Presents
by Janec Shannon
Summary: Syaoran takes Sakura on her "dream vacation" as a birthday present but things don't quite go as planned and they end up stranded. SS
1. Chapter 1

This is my first CCS fic, I hope you all like it. Any constructive criticism is welcome :) I've tried to keep this as canon as possible, but one or two things have been changed. The biggest difference that that neither Syaoran or Sakura have confessed their feelings for each other. This takes place about 10 years after the series when their 21-22 years old.

I'm only going to say this once at the beginning of the fic: I don't own CCS

Summary:

Syaoran takes Sakura on her "dream vacation" as a birthday present but things don't quite go as planned and they end up stranded. SS, ET, TY

Anyways, Enjoy and let me know what you think!

.oO***Oo.

Syaoran woke up and looked around. This is not where he was expecting to be... He looked around, trying to figure out where he was and how he got there. He was on a beach. His clothes were wet but were starting to dry. His head hurt. He reached up to touch his forehead, his fingers came away with flakes of dried blood on them and he felt a scab forming. _Ok, so I hit my head at some point... Think, idiot, think. What happened?_

**Flashback**

_Their class had had an assignment: write about your dream vacation. Of course, this had sparked conversations during lunch about what everyone was going to write about. He hadn't paid much attention to Tomoyo or Eriol. It was Sakura he listened to. _

_"I've always wanted to go on a cruise," she had said. "Somewhere warm and tropical. Going scuba diving and seeing the fish and the reef, watching the sun set. It just seems like so much fun! What about you, Syaoran-kun? Where would you like to go?" That had been a hard question, he literally could go just about anywhere. He didn't remember anymore what answer he gave, it had just been something that sounded good nothing really in particular. He felt a little guilty when he looked at her, she looked so happy it was the look she always gave him when she learned more about him. Like she felt they were even closer now. _

**End Flashback**

**Flashback**

_Her birthday was coming up and he wanted to buy her the perfect present. He wanted to see that look on her face that's says he got her exactly what she wanted. Tomoyo was making her clothes (_surprise, surprise_, he thought), Eriol had said something vague and cryptic (meaning he didn't know yet either), Touya had just glared at him and asked why he wanted to know what "the kaiju" wanted, Kero had told him to buy her sweets, lots and lots of sweets. And cake. And sweet potato sticks. Syaoran got the feeling Kero was just saying what _he_wanted and not Sakura. _

_He sighed and put his head in his hands, staring at his desk. Then, as if fate itself were telling him, an assignment from several weeks earlier on his desk caught his eye. It was the vacation assignment. _What had she said.... tropical cruise?_ he struggled to remember, _Yes, yes it was a tropical cruise... and scuba diving with fish... _It had to be fate telling him this: he usually threw out assignments when he got them back. You can't ignore fate. _

**End Flashback**

**Flashback**

_Her birthday came, when he gave her the present she told him she couldn't possibly accept, it was far too extravagant. _

_"Nonsense," he had told her, "besides the plans are already made." She had still looked hesitant, then it occurred to him: maybe she didn't want to be alone with him? __**That**_ _had hit him like a rock... "Its not just you and me, if that's what you're worried about, I also invited Daidouji and Hiiragizawa. If you want to you can invite your father and brother, Yukito-san too... It's your birthday present, you can invite who ever and how ever many you want."_

_"That isn't what I was worried about at all!" she had said it so earnestly, "Its just... this is such an expensive present..." Relief flooded him, it really was just because it was expensive. _

_"Sakura, I would not have given it to you if I couldn't afford it. Please, accept it." He gave her what can only be described as a pleading smile and could see in her eyes she had given in and would accept. _

_"Alright, thank you very much." He flashed her his biggest, most brilliant smile._

_"You can still invite who ever you'd like," he chuckled slightly, "Your bother probably won't let you come unless he can come to watch over you." She laughed with him._

**End Flashback**

**Flashback**

_It was the second to last day of the cruise and he had asked Tomoyo and Eriol to give him some time with her alone that evening. They had readily agreed knowing he has feelings for her and hoping the two would finally become a couple. Yukito had convinced Touya who, grudgingly, left them alone for the evening. Syaoran had then asked Sakura to dinner, saying the others had plans with each other. He had the whole evening planned out. _

_It was going to be a romantic evening. Candle lit dinner watching the sun set, the captain assured him most of the clouds that filled the sky would clear up by evening. She had come wearing a pale peach colored sundress and a light weight white sweater. Around her neck, as always, was the key. It had changed as she had gotten older, it had started to look more like something an adult would wear. Something a __**woman **__would wear. _

_Oh and she had become a woman over the years, he had not failed to notice this. She had grown her auburn hair out from that childish hairstyle and it now reached her mid-back, although tonight it was pulled back into a loose bun. She had pierced her ears several years before and now had the pearl studs in them her father had given to her for her 18th birthday. He was touched she would wear them for this evening, they had been her mothers and he noticed she tended to only wear them on special occasions. _

_The evening had been going wonderfully, although his plans to watch the sunset had been dashed as the clouds had not cleared. If anything they had gotten darker and thicker. When the waves had started getting bigger and the boat started rocking dramatically he got worried. He excused himself from Sakura saying he just wanted to check something with the captain. She smiled and said that was fine, she wanted to grab something from her room anyway. _

_His talk with the captain had made him even more worried. The storm had suddenly gotten much worse and had become more than the boat could handle. They needed to get to the emergency safety pods. (AN: Lets just say that the lifeboats are actually pods that can survive big, turbulent storms. Only the latest and greatest for our dear Syaoran) The captain told him that it was likely the ship would be fine and after the storm they could return, but as a safety precaution they would be asking that passengers and most of the crew depart as the pods would be safer than the boat._

_He rushed to Sakura's room, hearing the announcement on his way there. He wanted to make sure she got into a pod, the others wouldn't look for her, they would assume she was with him and he would make sure she got into a pod. Tomoyo and Eriol would trust him with this. Touya wouldn't, but Yukito would convince him. Her father hadn't come on the cruise, he'd had a dig he had to go to._

_Usually Syaoran didn't mind her tardiness, in fact he almost looked forward to it. The way she would always run in at the last minute looking disheveled and out of breath. _

_This was one thing he did not want her to be late for..._

_He made it to her room and started knocking frantically on the door. _Please be in, please be in_, he silently begged her. She didn't answer. He cursed and ran back to his own room, hoping she had gone back there. His mind told him she could have gotten in a pod when she heard the announcement, but he had to check. He had to make sure she was safe._

_Syaoran had sighed with relief when he found her in his room. Looking back he vaguely noted she looked as desperate and out of breath as he was. He ran to her and grabbed her in his arms, thanking any and all gods he could think of that he had found her. He decidedly ignored the fact that his desperation to find her and then his relief at finding her were disproportional to the amount of danger they were in. When he released her (turning a brilliant shade of red), he started telling her they needed to get to the safety pods, but he didn't even get out a full sentence when a particularly large wave hit the side of the ship. He remembered stumbling, then pain in his head, then darkness. _

**End Flashback**

"Oh god, Sakura!" he muttered, then started searching frantically for her. He saw her a ways down the beach from him. He immediately attempted to get to her, his body protested every movement but he had to make sure she was alive. As he got closer he realized that she was breathing, it was shallow, but it was there. She was still halfway in the water, so she was shivering. He grabbed her under her armpits and attempted to drag her up the beach. He managed to get them a ways away from the water when his legs gave out. He fell backwards still holding onto her, she ended up laying on top of him. Any other time he would have enjoyed their closeness, right now however, he was falling back into blackness.

Some time later, Sakura awoke laying on Syaoran. In her hands she clutched the Sakura Cards, thankfully they had not been damaged by the water. She wasn't sure if they could be, but she was relieved none the less. She looked around and noticed the drag marks up to where they were laying and realized Syaoran must have dragged her out of the water. She looked at the sky and saw it would be getting dark soon.

Though she was very comfortable where she was and would have been perfectly happy to remain there, she knew that they would need fire and food for that night and the next morning. She was not eager to wander around the forest behind the beach in darkness or first thing in the morning. She stood, her body exhausted from the amount of magic she had to use to save them (AN: you'll find out about this later), but she pushed herself and gathered firewood and built a fire near Syaoran.

She was thankful she'd been camping with her father and brother before, it allowed her to build the fire the old-fashioned way. She risked the fire burning out this way, FIREY's fires wouldn't burn out unless she allowed them to, but this way did not waste magic. They would do without shelter tonight, she decided, it was going to take the rest of her strength to get them food. Sakura looked around some, but she had no idea what was good and what wasn't. The last thing she wanted to do was poison them.

"What am I supposed to do?" she asked, directing her question towards the heavens as there really wasn't anyone else to ask. Looking up though, she noticed she was standing under a banana tree. She and Syaoran couldn't live off them until they were rescued, but the bananas would at least get them through the night.

Sakura sighed, the only way she could reach the bananas was more magic and she was already on her last legs. She would have to use WATERY later to get them water that didn't have salt in it, did she dare risk using some now? There was no choice though, they _needed_ food. Which card to use though? She decided on JUMP to get up there, then she could pull them off the tree with her hand... she hoped... otherwise she was going to have to use SWORD too...

Sakura carried the bananas back to their "camp", dropped them near the fire, and collapsed back onto Syaoran's side with her head on his chest.

"Night Syao..." she muttered to comfort herself not realizing he was awake. Syaoran had seen her coming up with the bananas, he just hadn't been able to get his body to react fast enough to help her and she had been too tired to notice his efforts. He had been shocked when she had curled back up with him, he'd been even more shocked when she called him Syao.

"Night Sakura..." he whispered, not wanting to wake her, then fell into sleep himself.

Syaoran woke before Sakura the next morning. For half a second, he was pleasantly surprised to find her still curled around him, but then the events of the previous day came flooding back and, though he was still glad to have her curled around him, he wished it could have been under different circumstances. The fire had burned out during the night so he got up, careful not to wake Sakura, and attempted to rebuild it. He wasn't exactly the out-doorsy type, so it took him longer than it had taken her but he did manage it. Sakura woke just in time to see him finally get the fire started.

"I was going to use FIREY last night, but I'd already used pretty much everything I had..." she croaked out. Her throat was dry from the salt water and not having had anything else for at least a day. (AN: remember, the storm came in the evening, they woke up during day light and its now the next morning which means they've now been on their beach for a full day.)

"You have the cards?" He questioned, she nodded and walked over to the fire.

"When I heard the announcement I turned around and grabbed them before heading to your room," she told him as she grabbed one of the bananas she'd gotten the night before. They both ate their fill.

"I'll find us water. You rest." Syaoran told her. She reached for the key around her neck, but he grabbed her hand stopping her. "No, like you said. You've used pretty much everything you have. Plus, we have nothing for WATERY to put the water in."

"No, I'm rested now," she told him, "Find something to put water in. We don't know what kind of bacteria could be growing in the water you find and we're in no condition to take care of each other if one or both of us gets sick. We'll live off WATERY until we find a better way." He sighed because he knew she was right, he'd just hoped to avoid having to use her magic. Living off her magic would leave her exhausted and him feeling useless. Syaoran decided he would find a way to get them off her magic as fast as possible.

.oO***Oo.

"Don't worry, Touya. Li-kun won't let anything happen to her." Yukito murmured to a frantic Touya.

"Why isn't she answering her phone then!?" Touya demanded. He had tried calling her over and over ever since the announcement to get into the safety pods. He'd maintained a semblance of calm until the ship started to sink, then he'd panicked.

"She probably dropped it or she didn't have it with her. You know she was having dinner with Li-kun tonight. Have you tried his phone?" Yukito asked calmly. He'd gotten used to Touya's over-protectiveness over the years and knew that there really wasn't a way to calm him down until he had his sister back in his sights again.

"OF COURSE! His phone doesn't even ring, just goes right to voicemail! He **always** has his phone on him and its **always**charged!" Yukito couldn't help but wonder why Touya knew that. He fought back a smile imagining Touya calling them constantly and interrupting them, Yukito figured he probably wasn't far off from the truth.

"Perhaps he dropped it when they were running for a pod? Have you tried Daidouji and Hiiragizawa? They could have gotten in a pod with them."

"YES! They haven't heard from them!" Touya stopped his frantic pacing and fell to his knees staring at the ground in front of him. "Oh god, Yuki... What'll I do if something happens to her?" Yukito was shocked but recovered quickly. Touya had never acted like this before, it was always raging around until she was back. He wrapped his arms around his boyfriend.

"Li-kun would sooner die then let harm befall Sakura-chan, isn't that why you trusted him with her in the first place? Even if it was just for one evening?" Yukito waited until he got a nod from Touya, "And don't forget... There's all of the crew in pods too. They could have easily gotten in a pod with one of them. All we can do is wait and remember, this is Sakura-chan we're talking about. Everything will definitely be alright." Yukito rocked Touya to comfort him with only one thought on his mind. _Oh Sakura-chan, please be alright._He glanced at Touya, _if not for yourself, then at least for him... Please..._

.oO***Oo.

As Touya and Yukito stepped out of their pod, they saw Tomoyo and Eriol waving at them. Yukito noted that while Tomoya looked happy, it was forced and there was a very distinct worried glint in her eyes. Eriol looked anything but happy. As expected, the first words out of Touya's mouth were:

"Any word of Sakura?" Tomoyo's smile faltered but remained plastered to her face.

"Don't worry, they're still fishing up and last couple of pods. She'll be on one for sure. See? I have my video camera out so I can film 'Sakura-chan's Miraculous Rescue', right Eriol-kun? She has to be fine. She's Sakura-chan after all! Everything will definitely be alright..." Eriol gave her a sad look and hugged her to him.

"Of course, Tomoyo-chan." He whispered, closing his eyes to fight back that tears that wanted to fall.

The captain of the ship that rescued them walked up to them. Yukito could tell by the look on his face that they had not found a particular auburn haired green-eyed girl. Touya didn't miss the look and his legs gave out from under him, no longer able to support his weight. He started pounding his fist on the deck of the boat.

"Damn that gaki, damnit. damnit. damnit. I should have stuck around them to watch over her... I should have... I... I should..." He broke into sobs. "... Kaijuu...." The man finally reached them, Touya looked at him, silently begging him to say those three little words he needed to hear right now. (AN: No, not "I love you" he wants him to say "We found her")

But the man just looked into his hopeful eyes, "I'm sorry. We didn't find-"

"You missed a pod." Touya interrupted him, his voice suddenly calm. "You have to have missed a pod. Look again. There should be two more of people. A gaki and a kai... kaijuu...." Yukito pulled Touya to him as he broke into sobs once more. The captain gave them a sad smile. He had a little sister back home, he couldn't begin to imagine what this guy was going through. He didn't _want _to imagine what this guy was going though...

"We'll continue to search the area, but we found everything that was out there, son. There aren't anymore pods." The man placed a hand on Touya's shoulder for a moment then walked off, leaving them to grieve. The air was soon filled with Tomoyo's shrieks, Touya's yelling, and Eriol and Yukito's silent tears.

.oO***Oo.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary:**

Syaoran takes Sakura on her "dream vacation" as a birthday present but things don't quite go as planned and they end up stranded. SS, ET, TY

_**Review Responses**_

**Lhaine07: **Actually where Syaoran hit his head really doesn't come into play later at all. It's not even really mentioned again except once.

**Twilight Kisses: **I'm glad you enjoyed it!

**jLinsmith89: **I know that probably wasn't the best way to handle it and there won't really be many more flashbacks, certainly not so many in succession.

Thank you three for your reviews and everyone else who took the time to read it! I hope you'll enjoy this next chapter

.oO***Oo.

Syaoran had found some coconuts they could open and use to hold water for now. (AN: I dunno if they grow in the same area as bananas, but this is a special island where I say they do.) He'd also found a spring and marked the location in his mind. When he got back to camp, he and Sakura went about draining the coconuts and scraping the meat out with some sharp rocks Sakura had found near the beach.

"Sakura, there's a spring a short distance from here. We might be able to use it for drinking water... since its moving its far less likely that bacteria will grow in it."

"Syaoran-kun, why are you so bent on getting us off magic? We're only going to be here a few days until they rescue us. So I'll be tired for a couple of days, its nothing a good rest won't cure when we get home." He sighed. She was not going to like what he was about to tell her.

"Sakura..." he couldn't help but hesitate, "We'll likely be here for more then a couple of days..." He readied himself for her anger or tears before he looked into her eyes. He did not get what he was expecting, she presented him with utter calm.

"Why?" she asked him simply. He looked away, unable to meet the cool gaze.

"Well, they won't start looking until they pull the bodies from the ship and realize ours aren't there... That will take them probably a week. After that they have to search for us and, depending on how far off course we are, that could take anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks, if they even-" he slammed his mouth shut, but she had already gotten the idea. _If they even find us at all..._ "How far are we?" he asked her. He was surprised by her reaction to this, she blushed and looked somewhat ashamed. Sakura bent her head down so her hair covered her face and mumbled something. "What?" Syaoran asked.

Keeping her head down, she said a little louder, "I don't know."

"You... don't know?" there was no anger in his tone, he was just surprise and confusion.

"Well..." she laughed nervously, "Its kinda... a long story..."

"We have time." He told her, he was curious how they'd gotten here anyway.

"Well, you see..." she started slowly but then everything seemed to spill out as fast as she could get it. "I mean, you stumbled and hit your head. There was blood everywhere and you were unconscious and I had to use POWER to carry you... You were saying something about safety pods when you fell and I remembered the captain's announcement to get in them. I wasn't sure where they were but I had to _try _to get us onto one... so I used POWER to carry you and-" Syaoran put a finger to her lips, silencing her.

"Slower Sakura. I can't understand you." He told her softly, he could tell she was upset and wouldn't be able to tell the story properly if she was all worked up. He gave her an encouraging smile and she started again.

"A big wave hit the side of the ship just as you were telling me something. Probably how we needed to get into the safety pods. The wave... I don't know, either way you ended up stumbling and hitting your head on the desk. I started freaking out but then I remembered you always tell me to calm down and think about the situation. So I did. You were unconscious so I had to use POWER to carry you."

She started speaking quickly again, "I know you're not supposed to move people with head injuries but it was either risk injuring you further by moving you or leave you to drown and I couldn't do that!" She looked at him with her eyes pleading him for acceptance. Obviously she had done the right thing but she needed him to tell her that. He smiled at her and nodded to let her know that indeed, it had been the right thing to do.

"The next wave broke the windows in your room so I knew the ship was sinking. I grabbed you and started running down the hallway. I finally found them, the safety pods I mean. But all of the ones on our side of the ship had been launched already. I tried to get to the other side of the ship, hoping there would be one there...I ended up getting trapped. I-I used WATERY to create an air bubble around us so we wouldn't drown, but the ship was sinking ridiculously fast. With every second we were getting deeper and deeper. The deeper we went, the greater the water pressure. The greater the water pressure the more magic it took to keep the bubble up. There was no way I was going to make it to the other side of the ship in time, I think the cards figured that out... A-as soon as the bubble failed I-I passed out, I think they probably transported us to the nearest land. I have no idea where we are or how they got us here, but they saved us."

Syaoran nodded absently as he took in the information. Then it hit him, they could be anywhere. They probably weren't on any of the logical search paths. For all he knew they could even be in the entirely wrong ocean! It was getting more likely they would never be found, he couldn't tell that to Sakura though. It would only upset her.

"I'll start building us a shelter today. You can use WOODY to figure out what kind of food in the area are safe to eat. We'll use magic to get us started but we're going to live on our own as much as possible, ok?" She nodded in understanding. She could take a few days of being tired, but not a few weeks. Definitely not more.

Syaoran left to explore, it would be better to find a cave or something that have a completely independent structure, that much he did know. Sakura used WOODY asking it to show her what edible foods in the area looked like then set off to explore herself.

(AN: It is WOODY right? That's what the subtitles said anyway…)

.oO***Oo.

Touya stood in the doorway of Sakura's room. He'd been standing there for an hour trying to gather the courage to actually step over the threshold. He'd tried to get a hold of their father but he was at a remote dig site and couldn't be reached.

He glanced around the room and his eyes landed on an yellow plush toy. It gave him the courage he needed and he finally walked into the room. For these few moments he forgot about the fact he'd always thought there was something off about it. He forgot that despite the fact that she'd had it since the fourth grade, dragging it with her nearly everywhere, it never seemed to get worn out or dirty.

Right now, all that mattered was this was Sakura's favorite. She'd gotten rid of almost all the other stuffed toys she had, only this one and a teddy bear from that Chinese gaki remained. He picked up the strange yellow plush and hugged it to his chest.

"Kaijuu..." he muttered before turning to sit on the bed. Somehow he ended up laying on it, curled up around the plush. "I'm not gonna cry anymore kaijuu... its not what you would have wanted..." but even as he said it, the tears started leaking out. "If that Chinese gaki brings you home, I swear… you can date, you can marry him, hell you can even have 50 kids with him if you want… if he just.. If he just brings you home… safe… to us…"

He wasn't sure how long he laid there, but eventually a knock at the front door brought him out of his thoughts. At first he was just going to ignore it, but they knocked again and he got the feeling that if he ignored them they weren't going to just leave. _Besides, _he thought to himself, _it could be someone with news of Sakura._ He knew that was unlikely, they would have called rather then showed up, but the thought gave him the motivation he needed to get off her bed and answer the door.

He didn't recognize the man and woman who had knocked on the door. She was an older woman, probably around the age of his father, her hair was black but he could see it was beginning to gray. She seemed to act very much like a business woman would. Very stoic. Very professional. The man was much older, his hair was completely gray and, while he still seemed to have the same professional look, he seemed to have a much warmer air about him. His eyes were much softer and warmer like that of a father's.

"May I help you?" Touya asked them. The woman's look seemed to soften, Touya knew she could hear the tears in his voice but he really didn't care. Whoever these people were, they meant nothing to him unless they were here to tell him they found his sister.

"I am Li Yelan and this is Wei. We're here to speak with Kinomoto Fujitaka." The woman told him. _Li, that was the gaki's name. Wasn't it? _he thought to himself.

"He's not here. He's at a remote dig site, no one's been able to get a hold of him."

"Then we will speak with you, if you would give us a moment of your time. It is important. You are Sakura's brother Kinomoto Touya, correct?" He could only nod as he stood out of her way. With the mention of her name he wasn't sure if he trusted his voice to answer. The woman saw the pain on his face and her features softened. She noted a strange yellow plush in his arms, she recognized it as Sakura's from the pictures her son had sent her.

Yelan had a sneaking suspicion of who that plush was, but her son had never said it outright so she didn't know for sure and she wasn't about to make a fool of herself by talking to a plush toy if it wasn't the guardian of the seal. She put her hand on Touya's shoulder as she walked past him and whispered, "Have hope, son."

Touya led them to the living room where he motioned for them to sit down while he made tea (he hasn't forgotten all his manners after all). When he came back with the tea, he handed them their cups then sat on the couch facing them. "What is there to have hope about?" Touya finally asked the woman.

"You give Syaoran and Sakura far to little credit. I refuse to believe my son drowned on that boat. Your sister meant quite a bit to him and he would never let harm befall her if he could help it. When they pull the ship up to retrieve the bodies they will not find my Syaoran's. If they do not find his, they will not find her's either." Yelan replied bluntly.

"The Li clan has the resources at our disposal to begin our own search and we will do so. It will cover a far greater area than a normal search party would. Hearing that Kinomoto-kun has not even heard about any of this we will also immediately send someone to inform him. This is not something a parent should hear about from just anyone."

Touya stood up, dropping the plush toy he had completely forgotten he was holding, and put his arms around the two strangers sitting on the couch. He hugged them to him like they were his last lifeline, muttering incoherently his thanks. Yelan and Wei both put and arm around the boy to comfort him before Yelan excused herself. She needed to make preparations. As Yelan and Wei were walking to their car a voice called out to them.

"Oi!" They stopped and turned around to see the plush toy flying towards them. Yelan smiled, she had been correct, this was Keroberos, the guardian of the seal. "I wanna help find 'em. Yue will wanna too, but Touya needs Yukito here." Yelan merely nodded and held open the car door for him to get in.

.oO***Oo.

It had been a week for Syaoran and Sakura. They had managed to find a cave near the stream Syaoran had found, they boiled water from the stream to rid it of any bacteria so Sakura no longer had to summon them water to drink with WATERY. They still slept together each night. (AN: Sleep-sleeping, nothing else) At first Sakura had been embarrassed about it, thinking Syaoran might not be pleased with it. She would always go lay down before Syaoran did so she was asleep by the time he went and laid down near her. She always seemed to know in her sleep where he was though and the minute he laid down, she would curl up to him in her sleep.

He loved it.

Once Sakura figured out he didn't mind, she admitted to herself, she loved it too.

They had not yet found a way of storing food, so one of them had to go out and gather for each meal. Syaoran held in a sigh as he looked at the meal in front of him. He knew Sakura was trying and the quality of food had dramatically increased over the week, but he knew this would not last them long. They needed to get some meat in their diet, he decided he would go fishing that day.

There were some wild pigs that ran around on the island, but he wasn't going to risk getting hurt killing one of those... yet. The pigs would certainly be useful to them, plus they could dry the meat so it would last. He didn't know if you could do that with fish, but he remembered reading somewhere how smoke meat to preserve it. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, Sakura needed him in one piece right now, maybe once they were a little more settled...

Sakura watched Syaoran with interest, he hadn't said anything the entire meal and she could see by looking at him he was deep in thought. He'd barely touched his food, she glanced at her own plate...well, leaf. She knew it didn't taste like the food he was used to, hell it didn't even taste like the food _she_ was used to, but damnit she'd done the best she could!

"So..." she started it pulled him out of his thoughts and his eyes focused on her. She suddenly realized she had nothing to say, she just hadn't been able to take the silence much longer. "Ano..." she scrambled, "I think I'm gonna cut my hair..." she'd said the first thing that came to her mouth, then instantly regretted it. Why the hell would he care about that?

"Why? I thought you liked it long." He replied in a monotone voice, he was interested but he was still pulling himself out of his thoughts. He'd remembered the day it reached her shoulders, then her mid-back. She'd been so excited, _'Only 3 inches til it reaches my waist!'_ she'd told him. He'd loved seeing her that happy, not to mention he rather liked the way she looked with long hair.

"Its impossible to take care of here," she told him, subconsciously reaching up to fiddle with the end of a chunk of hair. "Not only is there no shampoo or conditioner, I don't even have a comb to get the knots out. Its getting to be too much of a hassle."

"Oh," he felt like an idiot. He had no idea what to say about that. In the end it was her hair and they really couldn't be too concerned with looks right now. It was probably a good choice. He willed his mouth to move, for his voice to say that, but nothing else came out besides, "Ok."

Damn the disconnect between his mouth and brain.

She looked at him for a moment, some emotion flashed across her face momentarily but was replaced with a blank stare before he could identify it. "That brother of your's is gonna kill me when he finds us." He said lightheartedly, trying to get rid of that emotionless stare.

"Probably. He'll probably find us just so he can kill you," her tone was serious, but her eyes and the smile on her face let him know she was joking. "Although he's probably blaming himself right now." With that an emotion he did recognize flashed across her face: guilt.

He sighed inwardly, he should have known she was blaming herself for this, she always seemed to take more blame then she should and blamed herself for things completely out of her control. He set his leaf-plate down and walked over to her.

Syaoran wrapped his arms around her so her head was in the crook of his neck. She had not shed a single tear all week, he felt guilty for only just now realizing she was probably holding it all in so as not to worry him. "This is not your fault, don't you dare think that!" he told her gently but firmly, leaving no room for question. Her hands came up to his chest and gripped his tattered shirt, he could feel her beginning to shake with a weeks worth of pent up emotions.

Syaoran stroked her hair and whispered soothing words in her ear while she cried. He hated seeing her that upset, but knew that she needed to let it all out. So Syaoran held her until she cried herself to sleep, then he carried her to their cave where he put her on their 'bed', which was just a portion of the floor covered with moss, then tried to untangle her from him so he could to tend to the fire, but she curled up to him in her sleep and refused to let go. Syaoran gave her a soft smile then laid down and wrapped his arms around her. The fire would wait until morning, Sakura was much more important.

.oO***Oo.

Thanks again to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter, please let me know what you think of this one! ^-^

I'm thinking of changing the title. When I first thought of it, it was creative and interesting…. Now I'm kinda thinking its stupid. Any ideas for a new title?


	3. Chapter 3

_**Summary**:_

_Syaoran takes Sakura on her "dream vacation" as a birthday present but things don't quite go as planned and they end up stranded. _

Thank you to** lhaine07** for the review! Since you're the only one to review last chapter, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to you!

Hopefully people will enjoy this chapter and review it to let me know (hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge). I think you'll enjoy it though, this is probably my favorite chapter.

.oO***Oo.

Yelan stood in front of Syaoran's apartment. She had thought he was crazy wanting his own apartment at first, why not have a house with servants? But she had seen how her son had flourished while living on his own. He'd even let Sakura help him decorate it. She sent a silent apology to her son for entering his home without his permission and pulled the key from the hidden compartment he'd had installed in the door. Gathering her courage, she stepped over the threshold.

She closed the door behind her before glancing around the room. Yelan couldn't help but smile. She could practically feel the happiness and love that emanated from every room. This place was truly a home.

"Oh Syaoran..." she murmured as a single tear leaked down her cheek. Growing up her son had always been so cold, he'd left Hong Kong with an ever present scowl on his face in the fourth grade to search for the Clow Cards. Cold. Arrogant. These were the words to describe him when he left. She was not surprised, they were also words used to describe her and she lead the Clan. Wouldn't it make sense he would try to be like that so when he took over the Clan it would continue to do as well as it had under her leadership? She had not seen her mistake until he had returned from Japan.

Though he'd seemed even more miserable to everyone else, she knew that in order to be miserable, you had to have been happy at one point. He'd never been truly happy here, so he'd never known what it was like to be truly miserable. Although it might be horrible to think it, she was actually relieved he was miserable because as miserable as he was now... he could be just as happy later.

Though that happiness only really shined through once a night, she chuckled remembering how he had insisted he call Sakura every night. Whenever one of them missed a call, they would spend twice as long talking the next night. Yelan remembered how he'd damn near panicked when the girl hadn't answered her phone one night and didn't call him back. Then how Syaoran felt so guilty when her brother answered when he'd tried calling later and told him she was sick and sleeping. Yelan had heard the man's voice lecturing her son about keeping his sister up late and giving her a cold because she stayed up late to talk to him. She was amazed Syaoran had actually allowed the man to lecture him and listened to him. From then on he always checked with Sakura when it got later, telling her to sleep if she needed it.

(AN: Yelan isn't eavesdropping on the phone calls, she just happens to pass by occasionally. Touya yells pretty loud so she wasn't trying to listen it was just hard not to...)

Yelan watched her son talk to this girl, she saw the life in his eyes and realized what she had denied him for all those years. Life was not all she saw in Syaoran's eyes, however, she saw it every time he talked to the girl. Every time he would pull out a picture of her. She saw the **love** that resided in his eyes now. The look on her son's face was priceless when she told him she had officially broken the arranged engagement between he and Meilin.

From then on she swore to herself she would do anything to keep that look of true happiness there. Though right now, she'd give anything to have even her scowling, cold, arrogant son back.

She entered the bedroom and began to look for the compass, she only hoped it would find cards that were already owned by someone. It was not something any one had put to the test before. Yelan looked all throughout the apartment, everywhere she could think of and realized with horror that her son almost always kept it with him. It was either at the bottom of the ocean or with her son.

For the first time since he'd gone missing, Yelan felt there was actually a possibility she may never see her son again.

.oO***Oo.

Syaoran returned from getting firewood to find Sakura with SWORD activated. She was holding her hair behind her with one hand, the other had SWORD in it. Her hands were shaking slightly and she looked like she was about to slice her hand off instead of her hair.

"Baka!" Syaoran called out, dropping the wood he was carrying and grabbing her hand before she did any damage. Surprised, she dropped SWORD and turned to looked at him.

"I told you I was going to cut it..." She told him.

"No, you said you were _thinking_ of cutting it. You shouldn't do it yourself! You nearly sliced your hand off!" Sakura gave him a funny look and picked up SWORD again. She pressed the sharp side to her palm and ran it across. No blood appeared.

"I told SWORD to only cut my hair, it won't touch anything else..." She told him slowly. Syaoran felt stupid and looked at his feet, he knew SWORD could do that... He'd just panicked when it looked like she was about to be hurt. His mind blanked and he reacted. "Would you like to do it?"

His head shot back up, "What?"

She was smiling nervously. "Would you like to cut it? You can use SWORD or you can use your sword if you'd rather... which ever you're comfortable with." Sakura asked again nervously. When he didn't answer right away she started rambling, "Well, I mean... I know SWORD won't hurt me, but if I do it myself it could be un-even or I could miss a chunk of hair or-" he put his fingers to her lips to silence her. He sure seemed to be doing that a lot lately...

"No point in taking the chance of my ceremonial sword cutting you. I'll use SWORD if it will let me." he told her and she smiled at him.

"It will. I'll hand it to you when you're ready for it." She flashed him a smile then turned her back to him. Syaoran reached his hands out to begin gathering her hair but instantly noticed his hands were shaking slightly. He took several deep breaths to calm himself then carefully began to gather her hair. She had a very sensitive head so he was very careful not to pull too hard.

She loved her hair to be played with but despite that she let very few people play with it. As she explained it, it could feel amazingly good or hurt horribly (if they pulled too hard) and there was a very fine line between the two. He'd been allowed to play with it once or twice before. Her hair was as silky as he remembered (though quiet a bit dirtier). Syaoran allowed his fingers to run through it a couple of times working out several minor tangles. She shuddered. He smiled and ran his fingers through her hair causing her to shudder again before pulling it back like he was going to put it into a loose pony tail.

"You sure about this? Once its done it can't be undone." He asked her. When she quietly groaned a 'No' in response, he smiled, "It took you years to grow it this long and its really not _that_ tangled... you could probably braid it and it'd stay pretty tame. You still have the hair band you were wearing the night of the crash right?"

"Well.. yeah... but its such a hassle to keep it untangled." That gave him an idea.

"I'll help you keep it untangled if you want, I mean we may only be here for another week." He jokingly tried to put an 'I'm going out of my way to help you' look on his face, really he did, but when she turned around and he saw the look on her face he just had to smile.

"Really?" She had that look on her face that said you were doing her the biggest favor in the world. His smile softened and he reached up to touch her cheek. Realizing what he was doing, he blushed and jerked his hand back.

"Y-Yeah...well..." he stuttered out before turning bright red. "I-I need to...Firewood! Yes, firewood!" He turned on his heel and ran out to the forest to gather firewood, completely forgetting the pile he'd dropped just minutes before. Sakura watched him run off, _Was it something I said?_

.oO***Oo.

Yelan sat on the Kinomoto's couch for the second time in her life. Fujitaka had invited her over to watch something. She had been managing either the Clan, their businesses, or the search parties almost non-stop for the past month and Fujitaka told her it was not good for her health to work so much. Sakura (and he was sure Syaoran) wouldn't mind waiting a few extra days if it meant she didn't work herself sick. He said she might enjoy this and invited her and Wei, though Wei had declined saying he would manage the search parties for the evening.

"Sakura's friend, Daidouji Tomoyo, was the only one who recorded the entire show." He told her. "She may have given Li-kun a copy, but I somehow get the feeling if she did he's not the type that would send his mother a copy." She looked at him strangely. What show?

Then he started the tape, she truly had never laughed so hard when she saw her son at 11 in a dress playing a princess. "This was their 5th grade festival of the arts play." Fujitaka explained. She watched as her son stomped across the stage yelling "OKAA-SAMA!" determinedly at a strange boy dressed as the Queen. For some reason, the Queen didn't open his eyes the entire play.

"He never even told me about this." Yelan admitted to the man sitting next to her, but he just smiled at her.

"I figured such would be the case. I'm guessing you don't have a lot of video of him?" He asked. She admitted that she did not, and now she wished she had. She was confused when he continued smiling, stood up, and walked to a large bag sitting next to the tv. He picked it up and walked back to the couch with it. After he sat down he began to pull out video tapes each marked clearly in neat hand writing with a title and date. "Sakura's friend has this obsession with recording her, Li-kun got 'caught in the crossfire' so to speak." He picked up a tape labeled **The Thunder: Enter Li Syaoran** and put it in the tape player. "They apparently spent a lot of time in elementary school making this show. I'm rather amazed at Daidouji-chan's skill with visual effects." She saw her son wearing the green ceremonial robes and knew instantly, this was no show they had made for fun. This was them capturing the cards. This friend of Sakura's had caught it on tape and now she could watch the whole thing. She almost teared up. Almost.

"Thank you..." She said, thought it came out as more of a horse whisper. He touched her shoulder gently and gave her an understanding look.

"You don't need to thank me, I really didn't do anything except ask her for copies. This is the least I could do for your working so hard to help find my daughter... Li-kun's not in all of them, I marked the ones he's in for you with a green dot on the label. Dadouji-chan gave me two copies of everything." He gave a sad chuckle, "There's a gap when he went back to Hong Kong, but its pretty much from 4th grade through when they went missing. She even got some on the cruise itself..."

They continued to talk about their children late into the night, watching videos commenting on their children's behavior. Then there was the video where Syaoran first called each other by her first name. They watched as Syaoran screamed at the top of his lungs "SAKURA!" The worry, the love, and the shear terror of losing her was clearly evident on his face. (AN: I don't know how Tomoyo got a video of it, lets just say she did…) The two adults fell into silence for several minutes until Fujitaka finally spoke.

"So he loved her even then." Though it wasn't really a question, Yelan nodded her head slowly.

"He did." There was another long pause, then

"My daughter is very lucky."

"As is my son." Yelan answered.

"It seems everyone knows they love one another except them." Fujitaka said, though there was no humor in his voice.

"Love seems to go that way," she told him, her voice equally flat. Both were caught up in in their memories of their own lost loves.

.oO***Oo.

A month and a half had passed for Sakura and Syaoran, they had gotten to the point where they no longer needed to use Sakura's magic for day to day tasks. Syaoran would fish. Sakura would gather. It was a hard life, but they both found that, in a small way at least, they enjoyed it. Sakura had gotten too close to a wild boar one day while she was heading back from her bath, unable to outrun it she'd had to use SHOOT to kill it and POWER to carry it back. Syaoran had not allowed her to watch while he skinned it.

MIRROR had known how to tan hides (having mimicked someone who knew how at one point) and she had shown him. That had allowed them to replace some of their tattered clothing. They both knew Sakura had gotten lucky she'd been able to outrun it long enough for SHOOT to kill it and decided to avoid getting too close.

Syaoran was not so lucky however, though usually very aware of his surroundings he managed to get to close to one of the boars and anger it. Though he did manage to kill it with his sword, he did not escape unscathed. Sakura had heard him yelling and found him with a large, rather deep gash in his side. She used POWER to carry him back to their cave but didn't know what to do beyond that and he was quickly losing consciousness from blood loss.

Sakura was not remotely calm, it was always Syaoran that calmed her down and got her to do what she needed to. But Syaoran knew the severity of wound on his side, if he could have gotten to a hospital it wouldn't have been so big a deal, but he could not. They didn't have any bandages, they didn't have a way to clean it wound, they didn't even have something to wipe off the blood that was quickly covering his body. If blood loss didn't kill him then the infection would.

"Sakura..." he gritted out though clenched teeth. "There's something....I-I need... t-to tell you.." He could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness and he had to tell her he loved her just once. He knew once he lost consciousness it was over, he wouldn't be waking up again. She grabbed one of his hands with both of hers and shook her head.

"No, you can tell me when you're better... ok?" she told him with a watery smile.

"Sakura, just listen... please?" He looked her in the eyes, he was barely clinging to consciousness now. "Sakura, I l-love..you..." he managed to whisper before slipping into blackness.

"No!" She screamed. "NO! You have to wake up! You have to hear that I love you too!" but Syaoran didn't wake up. Sakura turned to the Cards. "Please, there must be something one of you can do... You've always done everything you could to protect me, you have to do something to help him... Please.....please...." she begged. But in her mind she could see them all shaking their heads. There was nothing they could do. "Please..." she whispered over and over while crying.

She didn't notice that every tear she cried glowed and shined. She didn't notice that when they hit his chest, rather than running down the side like they should have, they all pooled in the middle. She did noticed, however, when they started to form into a new Card. She suddenly felt very drained, but picked up that card that had formed. "HEAL?" she asked, then realized it was exactly what she needed. She summoned her staff and shouted "HEAL, heal the wounds on Syaoran's body!"

Syaoran started to glow as he started to float slightly above the bed. In front of her eyes the gash started to disappear and the color returned to his once tan skin. She hadn't even noticed how pale it had become with the blood loss. She smiled and whispered, "Thank you." as she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness. She'd never created a card from scratch before and it had completely drained her. She fell backwards expecting to hit the hard floor of the cave, when it never came she was too tired to see who had caught her.

Syaoran opened his eyes and looked around. He was still in their cave but he noted he was no longer in pain. _I must be dead_, he thought to himself as he sat up. He noticed Sakura was unconscious with her head in a strange woman's lap. The woman was looking at her lovingly, like a mother would, and was stroking her hair. He sensed it was a card but thought it was odd he didn't recognize it. He was shocked when she looked up at him and spoke. "I'm rather new at this. I was unable to remove the scar."

"I'm...I'm not dead?" he asked her, not really caring if he would have a scar. He was alive, wasn't that a small price to pay? Besides, it wasn't like he didn't have plenty of others from his battles and training over the years...

"You are not."

"How?"

"Mistress Sakura created me to heal you. I am a new Sakura Card." She paused before adding, "I need to return to my card. Please take care of her." He stood up, feeling slightly dizzy, and walked over to the two woman, he took Sakura from the card and she smiled at him before returning to her card and floating over to the deck of Sakura Cards to join her new friends.

Syaoran hugged the woman in his arms to him, stroking her hair as the new card had done, until she woke up.

"Syaoran...?" she whispered and tried to lift her hand to his face, she needed to touch him. To know he was real. He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his cheek. She gave him a weak smile, "I love you too, don't leave me." Syaoran wrapped his arms around her and hugged her to him tightly.

"Never, Sakura. Never, never, never."

Eventually they both realized they needed baths as they were covered in blood. He tried to convince Sakura to wait until she was more recovered from creating the card, but she insisted. When he didn't relent, saying she could drown if she over exerted herself, she finally said "Fine, we'll bathe together then. If I pass out you can catch me," He was shocked but agreed and promised that he would keep his back to her.

Syaoran kept his promise and his back remained to her the entire time they bathed. He finished before her and waited on shore. She did her best to keep her back to him, but while he was waiting she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. She let out an inaudible gasp and walked toward him completely forgetting she was naked. She ran a finger down his side where the scar was. Startled, he looked at her only to look away seconds later upon realizing she wasn't wearing any clothes.

"Sa-Sakura..." his voice broke her out of her trance.

"Hoooeee! I'm sorry, I just-" she started, but he cut her off.

"It's fine," he answered quickly, which she was grateful for because she realized if he hadn't cut her off she had no clue how she was going to finish that sentence. "You should put some clothes on..." he hinted feeling really uncomfortable.

"They're soaking wet. You.. ano... You can.. turn around if you want... just keep you're eyes above my shoulders." She told him. Syaoran nodded stiffly and turned slowly, giving her the chance to change her mind. She didn't and the moment he was facing her she threw herself at his chest. When she let out a small sob he realized she was crying and wrapped his arms around her. After several minutes she pulled away and slapped him across the face. Hard. " Don't you dare ever scare me like that again." He was surprised, to say the least, when he suddenly felt her lips pressed against his.

.oO***Oo.

I realize Sakura gets about out of character in the last section of this chapter, but she had a rough day I think she's allowed to not quiet be herself.

Don't forget the lovely review button at the bottom of the screen :D


	4. Chapter 4

**_Summary:_**

_Syaoran takes Sakura on her "dream vacation" as a birthday present but things don't quite go as planned and they end up stranded. _

**Review Response:**

**Twilight Kisses: **That's ok, I know life gets in the way sometimes. I had to give you a hard time though, its my job ;) Anyway, this chapter goes to you :)

Sorry it's a little shorter then my other chapters, hopefully you'll enjoy it just as much though!

.oO***Oo.

Yelan sat once more on the Kinomoto's couch, though this time she knew her visit would not be as pleasant. She had opted to tell only Fujitaka, as she knew Touya would over-react to the news she was about to give. The three of them had gotten to know each other very well in the several months their children had been missing. Although it didn't take someone close to them to figure out bad news went to Fujitaka while good news went to both,

"We're calling off the search." She told him, "It's only temporary, it's storm season right now and its not safe for the boats to be out." To her surprise, no shock or anger was evident on his face.

"I suspected as much. I've had to post-pone a dig by several months because of the storm warnings. I would have been surprised if you didn't call off the search." He gave her a sad smile. She smiled back and let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. _Does nothing upset this man?_ Yelan couldn't help but wonder.

"I'm glad you understand."

"I know Sakura, she wouldn't want anyone to put themselves at risk to find her. I am sure she and Li-kun will have little trouble surviving the storms." He heard the kettle boiling and excused himself. Yelan was left to her own thoughts.

.oO***Oo.

Syaoran woke in the middle of the night one night and felt something was wrong. It didn't take him long to figure out what: Sakura wasn't curled up to him like usual. Hearing murmuring outside the cave he got up slowly, though HEAL had healed most of the damage from the boar attack weeks before it still seemed to ache sometimes. As he got closer to the mouth of the cave he started to be able to understand what was being said.

"...settled then." He recognized this as Sakura's voice. "I really appreciate your help with this, I hate to use you for superfluous things but-"

"Oh Mistress, you know we love helping you. Even if its superfluous, that just means its _fun_!" He didn't recognize that voice, but he'd heard it before.

"Mistress, perhaps we'd best continue this conversation another time. I believe we have an eavesdropper." He didn't recognize the voice that spoke but heard giggling from several females.

"We must have woken him up. Thanks for the warning DARK. Go on back to you're cards, we'll talk later." More giggling though soon he only heard one person,

"Eavesdropping, eh Syao-kun?" He smiled at the nickname. She'd started calling him that right after the boar attack.

"No," he replied teasingly. "So what's settled?" She walked up to him, she looked almost scary the way the fire cast shadows over her face. Almost because the happiness and love that were burning in her eyes clearly indicated she would do him no harm. He wouldn't know it but her mind was frantically searching for a cover story.

"Just... plans..." She told him, hoping to stall for time to think of something. Aha! "You know.. for the next storm... The cards didn't want a repeat of last time." Hurricane season had started and she nearly killed herself protecting the entire camp from the winds, he'd tried to convince her just to protect the entrance of the cave, but no... she had to protect everything.

_"I already told you, this is our home. Surely, you don't want it to be destroyed."_ For all that innocent act, she sure could be manipulative.

_"Of course not, but I would gladly rebuild the entire camp to keep you awake with me," _he told her smugly. Proud of himself for the comeback when she suddenly looked at him like he was the sweetest man in the world.

"Sakura, its easy not to have a repeat of last time. Just use SHIELD for the cave, not the entire camp!" Syaoran brushed his lips over hers lightly, he delighted in the fact he got to do this now and savored every second of it. He decided he would let her think that he believed her.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Maybe there won't be another storm? Anyway, lets go to bed." Fat chance, hurricane season didn't end for another couple of months. She was just trying to get him to forget about whatever he'd heard her planning.

But he would let her think she got away with it, if she didn't want to tell him anything she wouldn't. Syaoran went back into the cave and laid down, when she entered behind him he held his arms open inviting her to come lay down with him.

.oO***Oo.

Syaoran sighed. Sakura was definitely up to something, that morning she'd suggested he explore the island... until late afternoon. Oh Yes, something was definitely up. She'd never told him not to come home before... He sighed and looked at the sun in the sky. He decided it was probably late enough he could start heading back.

As he made his way back to their camp he tried to think about what was going on. She'd been sneaking around a lot lately. Leaving late at night after they'd both gone to bed. He'd noticed some nights she came back wet, like she'd taken a bath or been swimming. He couldn't figure out why she didn't just go swimming during the day. The other thing that bothered him was that her mother's earrings that she hadn't taken off since they came to the island (so as not to lose them) were no longer in her ears but she hadn't said a word about it. She was definitely up to something but the only thing he could figure out is that she clearly didn't want him to know. It wasn't like she could be cheating on him because there wasn't any else on the island, not that he assumed she was cheating on him anyway…

When he got back to camp he saw why she had wanted him out. She'd decorated the entire camp with flowers and leaves. On the table was even a vase filled with peonies, which he guessed she'd gotten from FLOWER as they aren't exactly native to the tropics. She had her back to him and she was wrapping something with some large leaves. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Startled, she jumped slightly but quickly covered whatever she was doing so he couldn't see.

"What's all this?" He whispered huskily in her ear. She turned around in his grasp and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hey there, birthday boy," she told him then giggled when she saw the confused look on his face. "How long have we been on this island?" she whispered in his ear.

"We've been here for a little over 3 months..."

"We got stranded in April so that makes it...?"

"That makes it July... my birthday..." She beamed at him.

"Happy Birthday! I'm not sure if I have the exact day right, but I'm close." He squeezed his arms around her tighter.

"Is this why you've been sneaking out every night?"

"Hoe? You knew?"

"Of course. I knew since DARK caught me eavesdropping a week ago," he laughed.

"Oh," she sounded disappointed, but it was quickly replaced with a big smile, "But you didn't figure out what I was up to right? So it was still a surprise?" He gave her a loving smile.

"Yes, it was still a surprise." He leaned down and kissed her slowly.

"Sit," she commanded when they broke apart, "Presents, then we'll have dinner, then cake." She handed him packages wrapped in leaves one at a time, explaining that they were from the cards. He was amazed to think the cards thought so much of him as to make him birthday presents, they were presents that would make both his and Sakura's lives easier.

A set of flint and obsidian knives (which were much easier to use then either of the swords they had), plates and bowls made from kind of light but durable stone, a comb (he guessed this was actually for Sakura), a bow and several arrows, forks and spoons made from wood, among other very useful presents. Sakura seemed to hesitate before handing him the last present.

"This one is from me," she told him quietly before handing him the package. Syaoran opened the package carefully not really knowing what to expect. Inside was a bracelet made from shells, coral, and two very familiar pearls. It was the most beautiful bracelet he'd ever seen. The shells and coral had been made into small spherical and cylindrical beads, and an intricately carved piece of mother of pearl separated the two pearls. It was beautiful but was still something a man wouldn't mind wearing in public (just in case they ever got off the island). He couldn't imagine how Sakura had managed to make this in just one week. When she started to ramble he realized he'd been staring at it and hadn't said anything. Sakura, being Sakura, took it to mean he didn't like it.

"These pearls..." Syaoran finally managed to breathe out, Sakura looked at him with an unreadable expression. "They're your mother's pearl earrings… aren't they?" She smiled at him and nodded. "You didn't have to do that, I know how much they mean to you…" he told her.

"I wanted to," was her simple reply.

"But-"

"Those earring were given from my father to my mother with all the love he had to give. Now, they're a give from me to you with the same." She was smiling brilliantly. Sakura picked the bracelet up and put it on his wrist.

"Thank you..." he told her.

"You're welcome. Now lets eat dinner, but save room. SWEET made you a cake."

.oO***Oo.

"Happy Birthday Syaoran." Yelan whispered. She was in his apartment again, she found she'd been spending a lot of time there of late. No one bothered her because everyone knew Syaoran was missing so why would they come to visit him? "You know, son, the Clan won't search forever. They've already started training someone to replace you as head of the Clan. I can only force them to search for so long..."

Yelan wasn't crazy, she didn't expect an answer, but somehow it comforted her to talk to him as though he were there and had never left. She'd talked to him more in the last 3 months than she had pretty much his entire life combined, even if he wasn't there to know about it. She pulled a small package from her pocket and looked at it. It was her birthday present for him, the engagement ring Syaoran's father had bought for her when he'd asked her to marry him. She hoped that if he had it, it would finally give him the courage to ask Sakura on a date, or it could backfire entirely and make him too nervous to even talk around Sakura. It was a risk Yelan was willing to take... If she ever saw either of them again...

Yelan had forced herself to start thinking in terms of "if" instead of "when". She fully understood at this point chances were slim she'd ever see her son again. He'd been missing for months, even if he'd managed to get to land somehow it was the middle of hurricane season. Sure he had his magic and Sakura was the Card Mistress, but how much could that really do for them in the end?

She could tell Fujitaka was beginning to realize the same thing, though he kept up his cheerful optimistic mask for Touya. She was good at reading people and she saw right through it.

It wasn't hard to see how Touya clung to the fact that his sister was alive, she knew how badly it would tear him up if they did not find her. Yelan was surprised at how desperate she found herself to find both of the two young adults, not just her son. The tragedy of Sakura and Syaoran missing had brought their two families together and she would like very much for them to actually become family.

She only hoped they could be found before the Elders stopped searching. She may be Head of the Clan right now, but they could still go against her if all of the Elders decided it was best.

She was going to have to fight very hard to get them to resume the search when storm season was over.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary:**

Syaoran takes Sakura on her "dream vacation" as a birthday present but things don't quite go as planned and they end up stranded.

Review Response:

**lhaine07**: I'm glad you picked up on that : ) The way I see it, its kinda hard to keep a secret as big as you loving someone if they're the only person you see for months on end and potentially the rest of your life.

**Twilight Kisses**:I'm glad you enjoyed it : )

**Sylmarien**: The reason they don't just have Sakura use FLY to get them off the island is because of two reasons. 1) They have no idea how far it is to land and the last thing Syaoran wants is for Sakura to run out of/ low on magic above ocean with no land in sight and 2) even if Sakura uses FLY find land with people, she has no way of figuring out where to tell them to search. So then Sakura would be rescued but it would leave Syaoran on the island alone. And that would just be sad for poor Syaoran.

There isn't anything going on between Yelan and Fujitaka. I re-read the chapter and could see why you would think that (I played with the idea for awhile and it came through in the writing more than I thought) and after reading this next chapter you'll probably think it even more. But no, nothing is going on between them. They have simply become very close friends.

By wanting their two families to become one, I meant through Sakura and Syaoran, not Yelan and Fujitaka.

.oO***Oo.

Several months passed, Syaoran finally decided to take a big risk. He was going to propose, but to do this he needed a ring. He couldn't figure out where to get one from, he'd been trying to come up with an idea for weeks and just couldn't think of anything. He punched the wall of the cave and shook his hand instantly regretting it.

"Do you really love her?" Syaoran started at hearing a female's voice. Sakura was off gathering, so he was the only one at camp. He turned around to see LIGHT staring at him, waiting for an answer.

"Yes." He answered without hesitating. She stared into his eyes looking for any signs of deception. She found none and gave him a curt nod.

"We accept you. Go to the beach directly south of here, MIRROR and I will wait for you there."

"For what?" She looked at him incredulously.

"A ring of course."

"Thank you." LIGHT nodded and was about to return to her card when Syaoran stopped her. "Wait, Not that I don't appreciate the help.. I do... but wasn't the whole point of sealing you into cards so you couldn't just do what you wanted whenever you wanted? How is it you can just come out of your card whenever you want?"

"We can act on our own if it is in the best interest of our Mistress. You have seen us protect her before."

"You aren't protecting her now though and you have always been in your card form when you protected her before..." he pointed out. LIGHT smiled.

"But we _are _acting in her best interest. Several years ago she told us we may leave our cards if we like because she didn't know how often she would be able to use us. As long as we don't cause trouble we may come and go as we please. We love Mistress Sakura and have no desire to cause trouble for her. We accept you because you protect her and love her as we do," having said that, LIGHT returned to her card before he could ask what she meant by 'we accept you'.

Syaoran got the feeling something very significant just happened.

Syaoran left a note in the sand that he would be back later and headed to the beach and sure enough LIGHT and MIRROR stood waiting for him. MIRROR smiled and waved at him, "Stone, shell, or coral?" He looked at her confused, "What do you want to make the ring out of: stone, shell, or coral?" He thought about it.

Coral would be the most dangerous to get the materials for. He didn't mind getting hurt, but he didn't want Sakura to worry or notice he was up to something. Shells would be pretty, but it would be almost impossible to fine a shell thick enough to make the ring. Stone would be the hardest to carve but it could potentially be just as pretty as the others and would likely be more durable.

"Are there any durable stones that are a nice pink?" he asked.

"EARTHY will know," LIGHT told him. With that work began on the ring. EARTHY came to the beach and provided him with the stones he needed to carve the beautiful pink stone. It took him weeks to finally get it carved. EARTHY and WATERY worked together to polish the ring. It was a simple ring, just a plain band, but its simplicity only added to its beauty. Without any carvings the different colors of the stone were highlighted.

.oO***Oo.

"What do you mean 'No'?" Yelan demanded of the Elders. She had expected a fight not an outright refusal.

"Precisely what it sounds like, Li-sama. We will not resume the search. We have another child training to replace your son, you will head the Clan until it is time to pass on leadership. He even has a wife already chosen, unlike your son."

Yelan was grateful she had years of keeping up an emotionless mask, now was not the time to be emotional. If it had been, she would have been in near hysterics. "He is alive. You will regret this." but it did no good, there was no changing their minds. Syaoran would not be found, within 6 months someone else would be as the heir to the Li Clan.

.oO***Oo.

Syaoran stared at the ring in his hands, he was finally going to ask her. It may have taken him nearly a decade to finally confess his feelings, but he wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He couldn't wait another decade, hell he could barely wait another day.

The cards were making sure he didn't have to. They had helped him decorate the camp however this time ILLUSION decided to help out a bit. It made the entire camp look like a fancy restaurant, put Syaoran in a tux, and as soon as she stepped into the camp it would put Sakura in a fancy dress. The evening was perfect.

Imagine Sakura's surprise when she stepped into their camp and was suddenly transported to this fantasy world where a smirking Syaoran was waiting for her. She walked towards him with a confused look on her face, though she sensed the magic of the cards she didn't remember doing any of it and she couldn't feel the magical drain that usually accompanied using the cards. Her confused look only turned Syaoran's smirk into a large grin.

"I asked the cards to do me a favor and some how they're managing to run off my magic instead of yours so you wouldn't notice," he told her proudly. They had a lovely evening, enjoying dinner, music, dancing, everything you could want in a romantic evening. Sakura asked what the special occasion was, but Syaoran just kept telling her she would find out later.

All good things must end, however. Eventually, the moon was high in the sky and they both began to tire. They both sat curled in each others arms watching the moonlight over the ocean.

"I love you, Kinomoto Sakura," he whispered in her ear. Before she could answer him, he pulled away and stood in front of her. "It took me a decade to tell you how I felt the first time, I'm not about the make the same mistake twice." he knelt down and pulled the ring out of his pocket. Sakura gasped. "Would you do me the honor of being my wife?"

She threw her arms around him and nodded. Finally she found her voice "Yes! I will!" she pulled away and held out her left hand. He got the idea and slid the ring on her finger.

He was very confused when she started giggling, seeing the look on his face she told him, "Those sneaky cards." and pulled out the green ring from her pocket as well. Sakura grabbed his hand and slid the ring on his finger, he was beaming. Honestly he hadn't expected a ring from her at all, let alone right away.

.oO***Oo.

Yelan sat on her son's couch. She was crying. She _knew_ Syaoran was alive, she couldn't explain _how_ she knew she just did. It was mid-November, hurricane season was over. She had tried to convince the elders to reconsider their decision but they absolutely refused to resume the search.

She would never see her son again...

Syaoran was as good as dead....

...never see him again...

...good as dead...

...never again...

...dead...

A knock at the front door brought her out of her thoughts. She stared at the door for several minutes. It didn't quite register in her mind what she was supposed to do. They knocked again and Fujitaka's voice floated through the door.

"Yelan-san? Please open the door." She stared at the door for another minute until realization hit her. She should open the door. She stood up. She needed to open the door, she just needed to focus on that for the moment. She walked over to it, put her hand on the doorknob and turned. _Open the door, open the door, open the door,_ repeating over and over in her mind as though she might forget if she didn't say it to herself. She pulled on the doorknob, there stood a very worried looking Fujitaka. His features softened as soon as he saw her. "Yelan-san..."

Her head fell to his shoulder as she broke down again. "I'll never see him again... They won't resume the search..." He wrapped his arms around her and stared straight ahead fighting off his own tears. "My son is gone, he's as good as dead..."

"But he isn't. They're both alive somewhere. They're just... on an extended vacation, we just don't know where..." he lost the battle and silent tears began to drip down his face as he guided them to the couch. "We know they're alive... that's all that really matters in the end." He told her as he sat them down. She was in his lap with her head tucked under his chin. They both silently sobbed while he rocked them back and forth.

They sat they until they cried themselves out. They weren't sure how long it took them but they ended up sitting in darkness, neither willing to move to turn a light on. "How did you find me?" she asked weakly.

"Wei-san."

"Oh."

"Are you ok now?" Fujitaka asked her.

"No, I'm better though. Thank you."

"No problem, you're practically family."

There was a long pause then Yelan asked "Why were you looking for me?"

Fujitaka sighed, "Two reasons. Wei-san was worried when you didn't come back after your meeting with the Elders and asked me to come check on you."

"And the other reason?"

"To let you know I'm going to be leaving for a dig for two weeks. I'll be back by Christmas. Actually three reasons. We'd also like to invite you, your daughters, and Wei-san to our house for Christmas."

"I'll...I'll ask the girls if they have plans. When are you leaving?"

"At the end of the month," he told her.

"Oh."

And that was all they said, that was all they needed to say. They just sat there... taking comfort in each other's presence.

.oO***Oo.

Sakura and Syaoran were laying in their "bed" curled up with each other.

"Ne, Syao-kun?" He looked down at her sensing her nervousness. This was a question she'd been thinking over for several weeks now but hadn't had the courage to ask.

"Yeah?"

"I... Well I was wondering... I mean its not like its really that significant in the end cause there's no one around for it to make a difference to.. and.. I mean if you say no that-that's fine too... but I was just wondering... because, you know, we may never get off this island-"

"Just ask," he told her gently touching her chin with his finger to get her to look at him.

"Well... ano... do you think that maybe.. um... well... we could.. ano..." She was bright red at this point and getting redder by the second.

"Just ask," he told her again with a slight chuckle in his voice.

"Do you think that.. ano.. doyouthinkwecouldpretendtobemarrieduntilwegetoffthisisland?" Syaoran looked at her utterly confused.

"What?"

"I was just thinking that we may never get off this island so maybe we could..." Syaoran didn't think Sakura could get any redder but she proved him wrong and managed to darken a few more shades. "... act like we're married until we get off the island and have a real marriage ceremony?" Syaoran was shocked. He'd never dared to dream Sakura would ask that, he couldn't find the words to answer he was so happy. Unfortunately Sakura took his silence as a no and began rambling. "I mean if you don't want to that's fine, it was just a silly idea I ha-" She was cut off as Syaoran's lips met hers.

"Sakura, I love you with or without a ring, I love you with or without a marriage certificate. And if you want to be husband and wife, if you want to be Li Sakura, until we get off this island and make it official then damn it all we'll be husband and wife. If I was the happiest man in the world when you agreed to marry me, I think you just made me the happiest man in the universe." (AN: Awww Syaoran's so romantic, why can't all men talk like this *sends a pointed look to my boyfriend* hehehe) He kissed her passionately then leaned to whisper in her ear, "Mrs. Li Sakura."

"I like the sound of that." she told him, "Li Sakura, Li Sakura, Li Sakura."

.oO***Oo.

Ok, something I want to make clear about this chapter, specifically the last section.

Sakura is _not_ specifically asking for sex. She's just asking if she can consider herself Li Sakura instead of Kinomoto Sakura, which is why she said that its not like there's anyone around for it to make a difference to.

I realized after I wrote the section that it could be taken the wrong way, but I like it too much (when taken the right way) to take it out. When Syaoran says he's the happiest man in the universe its not because he gets to have sex, its because Sakura wants to take his name and doesn't want to wait to get off the island to do it because only god (and by god, I mean me Mwahahaha) only knows if that's going to happen.

If you want, you can assume they start "doing it" since that usually goes along with being husband and wife. Or not. It really doesn't matter to me how you take it. I'm not going to expressly state whether they do or not because at this point I'm haven't decided if it will have any effect on the story.

Until then, you can decide whether or not in your own mind.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary:**

_Syaoran takes Sakura on her "dream vacation" as a birthday present but things don't quite go as planned and they end up stranded. _

A thanks to lhaine07, Twilight Kisses, and hazel eyes 02 for the reviews! Its late and I really want to get this chapter published so I'm not going to write review responses this time… You guys have waited long enough for this chapter.

I apologize for the long delay but I just couldn't find a good place to stop. As a result you get a really long chapter :) Nearly twice as long as usual (avg chapters are about 3K words, this one is almost 6K)!

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter, I think you guys will really enjoy it.

.oO***Oo.

Time passed quickly, weeks turned into months and before Sakura and Syaoran knew it was December. They started sneaking off to separate parts of the island to make their Christmas presents.

Sakura was on a remote part of their island, when she heard an odd noise. It sounded like... Like people... People digging. She followed the noise and soon found a camp filled with people. She crept closer to the camp and realized they were speaking Japanese.

"Remember students, mark exactly where you find everything. It corrupts the data we get from the dig if you inaccurately record data." One woman spoke, she seemed to be glaring at several particular students. "You're grades depend on _accuracy_, not the number of items you find. Now Kinomoto-sensei-" she was interrupted by a small 'eep' from the bushes. Sakura realized she was caught and stepped out of the bushes.

"Kinomoto-sensei? As in Kinomoto Fujitaka?" The class just stared at her unable to comprehend the fact that there was a strange girl who happened to speak their language on an island that _should_ be uninhabited thousands of miles away from their home.

"Ne, Akahana-san did you happen to see where I put the A5 grid layout?" a male's voice spoke as he started coming out of a nearby tent. A familiar male's voice.

"Otou-san...?" Fujitaka slowly looked up from the papers he was holding, scared of what he was going to see. They made eye contact and he knew instantly it was her. She was tanner, more muscular, her hair had grown several inches and been sun-bleached a few shades lighter than it had been but there was no doubt it was her. "Otou-san!" She cried louder.

Fujitaka didn't move, he just stared at her for a minute then slowly ripped his gaze away to the woman that had been addressing the class. "I'm going to go lie down, Akahana-san." He said slowly. "I'm hallucinating."

"Otou-san, no! I'm real!" She ran up and wrapped her arms around him. "Syaoran and I have been living on this island since the cruise last April. I'm real, 'tou-san, I'm real!" Slowly, painfully slowly he wrapped his arms around her. He let her go and he reached his hand out, stopping a mere centimeter from her face as though if he touched her she would disappear. His hand was shaking.

"Sa-Sakura..?" His eyes were tearing up. He spoke in barely a whisper. Suddenly, something in him snapped. He grabbed her and held her to him as tightly as he could. His legs couldn't support him and he fell to his knees bringing her down with him. They stayed like that with the class watching until someone sneezed and broke the moment (earning a glare from all the woman in the class).

"Otou-san... I should get back, Syaoran will be worried if I'm not back by sundown." He pulled back and looked at her.

"Back to where?" Her eyes lit up.

"Come on I'll show our home!" She grabbed his hand and started to pull. The class made to follow but the Akahana woman told them to stay. '_His daughter has been missing for almost a year, let them have their moment',_ she told them.

She led him to the camp slowly, she could have gone faster but he wasn't used to navigating in the jungle like she was. As they got closer to camp they could hear Syaoran pacing and muttering to himself about how if she isn't back soon he's going to start looking for her.

"Syao-kun!" She yelled and his head snapped up. He instantly ran to her, not even noticing the extra person behind her.

"Where were you? I was worried sick." He had his arms wrapped around her and his eyes squeezed shut.

"I found Otou-san." Syaoran's eyes shot open and he instantly caught sight of the third person.

"Ki-Kino-Kinomoto-sensei!?" He was shocked when Fujitaka walked up to him silently and embraced him as though he were his own son.

"We've been so worried about you two..." Fujitaka said. "Let's go back to camp. The dig is over in a few days, I can cut it short. We'll head out tomorrow." Sakura giggled, this was the most excited she'd ever seen her father (can you blame him though?).

"Otou-san, it's too dangerous to try to traverse the jungle in the dark for you. Syao-kun and I can manage it because we've lived here for so long, but I don't want to risk you getting hurt. I'm sorry, I didn't even think about that when I dragged you all the way here... I was just so excited to see you... Why don't you stay and have dinner with us tonight, you can spend the night here." She turned to Syaoran, "Did you start dinner yet?"

He shook his head, "I didn't want to start it if I was going to have to go looking for you."

Sakura smiled at him softly, "I'm sorry for worrying you, I'll run out and gather you go ahead and start cooking." He smiled at her softly and shook his head again.

"That's alright, you had a good reason too. I'll gather tonight, you catch up with your father."

"Thank you," she told him then whispered too low for her father to hear, "Ask LIGHT to go along with you, that makes it easier once its dark." He nodded and went to their cave to ask LIGHT to accompany him. Fujitaka waited until he was gone into the trees before he spoke to his daughter.

"So you two finally got it out in the open, did you?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Got what?" Fujitaka walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"My darling daughter, you and the only person you've seen for the last 8 months are wearing engagement rings that I know for a fact you were not wearing when you went missing."

"O-oh, that," was her elegant response.

"Yes, _that_." He answered.

"Ano... I should get dinner going..." she managed to get out then turned on her heel leaving a very amused father. As she worked, she asked how everyone at home had been doing. When Syaoran returned he began helping make dinner and they both told their parts of the story with the other throwing in comments when necessary.

The story wasn't mainly what Fujitaka was interested in however. Oh sure, he paid attention, but he got the feeling he would be hearing this story many times when everyone else wanted to know. What he was watching was their interaction with each other as they made dinner. They looked as if they'd been doing it their whole lives, moving effortlessly from one task to the other. He did note, with some interest, the utensils they used and the clothes they were wearing and realized they must have made them themselves.

In particular he noticed a familiar set of pearls on Syaoran's wrist. It was a lovely bracelet he could see that great care had gone into the making of it. For a half a second, he wondered if Syaoran knew how much the pearls meant to Sakura but quickly realized the boy probably knew her better than he himself did.

Syaoran was not wearing a shirt, it having completely fallen apart months before, and Fujitaka noticed a rather nasty looking scar running down the side. Fujitaka wasn't quite sure why, but he had a gut feeling that Syaoran had gotten that scar on the island and he was amazed the boy had survived, the scar did not look like it had been a mere scratch.

That was how the night was spent. At some point, Sakura had EARTHY enlarge their cave a bit so there was room for a third person and WOODY grow him a bed of moss. Sakura went to bed before the two men, as usual, which Fujitaka was grateful for, he had wanted a chance to talk to Syaoran alone. Before he couldn't speak a word however, Syaoran beat him to it.

"I suppose it's better late then never... Kinomoto-san, I'd like to ask for you're daughter's hand." Fujitaka's eyes flicked to the cave where he knew his daughter was listening to every word. Call it father's instinct.

"You love her." It wasn't so much a question but Syaoran answered anyway.

"Yes, sir."

"Why ask me now? You've already asked her." Fujitaka already knew what his answer to the boy's question was. He was overjoyed and didn't really mind that Syaoran had skipped the formality of asking him first, especially considering the circumstances. He couldn't help but give the boy a bit of a hard time though.

"I had planned on asking you before I asked her, but.. well to be honest, we'd resigned ourselves to living out the rest of our lives here. At this point we didn't think we'd be seeing you or any of our family.. ever again."

"And if I say no?" Fujitaka asked. The boy in front of him looked shocked and there was a faint "hoe" from the cave. Within seconds Sakura was by Syaoran's side, holding his waist, he quickly put his arms around her shoulders.

"Then we'd marry anyway," she told him stubbornly, jaw set and ready for a fight.

Fujitaka broke into a big smile, "That's my girl." He looked at Syaoran, "Allow me to be the first to welcome you to the family."

Syaoran looked a bit hesitant by the sudden change in attitude but smiled and answered anyway, "Thank you, Kinomoto-sensei."

"No, no. Call me Otou-san," Fujitaka insisted.

"Then you can call me Syaoran if you want... Otou-san" The word felt funny coming from his mouth, he hadn't had a father as long as he could remember. It felt funny but not bad. In fact, he rather liked it. "Otou-san" he said again, just to try it out. Fujitaka watched with amused eyes, he'd heard from Yelan the boy had never known his father and he was glad Syaoran didn't seem to mind calling him so.

The next morning was spent convincing Fujitaka not to cancel the dig early. "It'll only be a couple of days and its unfair to your students." Sakura told him.

Syaoran readily agreed with her saying, "We've been on this island for months now, a couple more days won't hurt anyone." Fujitaka had a secret chuckle over this, he had known they would react this way but it had been worth a shot to try to convince them to return home early. They finally convinced him to wait saying they wanted to bring some of the things they had made back with them and would need time to get them together anyway.

The first night they spent at Fujitaka's camp they had been given separate tents. They both spent hours tossing and turning for neither had slept alone for months. Neither were used to the softness of the cots they were sleeping on (though the cots were no where near as comfortable as a real bed would have been) and had moved to the floor.

But Sakura could not get comfortable still. Her pillow did not have that comforting heartbeat nor did it move up and down slightly with each breath. It didn't have arms to wrap around her to make her feel safe and protected while she slept. She felt not only uncomfortable, but vulnerable and exposed as well.

Syaoran missed the slight pressure on his chest or arm and the way her hand would rest on his chest and her fingers would sometimes twitch in her sleep. He needed to hear the soft, almost silent snores that were his lullaby now. He felt cold without her warmth and couldn't get over the nagging feeling that something was wrong. Nothing was, he knew she was only a tent away, but something _could_ be and he would never know.

Finally, after several hours of tossing and turning, Sakura snuck out of her tent and opened the flap to his. She stood in the entrance not sure what to do when she didn't find him on his cot as she had expected. She'd just turned to leave when he whispered, "Sakura?" She turned back at look at where she hadn't seen him on the floor. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I…I couldn't sleep and, um.. A-and I was wondering.. I-if"

"Sakura…" He said, amusement filling his voice. He held open his arms, inviting her to join him, and she smiled brilliantly and rushed to his side. "Do you want to move to the bed?" he asked, but she shook her head.

"Its too soft." she answered, he laughed.

"I had the same problem," he told her. They didn't even bother trying to sleep separately after that.

Soon the dig was over and they were back on a boat to Japan. When Fujitaka had shown them a map, Syaoran wasn't surprised none of the search crews had found them, they were thousands of miles off course against the currents with several other livable islands in between where the ship sank and their island.

It was pretty much physically impossible for them to have ended up on their island.

Sakura and Syaoran would get a good joke out of it for years to come.

.oO***Oo.

Touya was just getting in the car to pick up his father from the dock when Yukito walked into the garage.

"Why don't I come with you to pick you're father up, Touya?" he asked, earning a confused look from Touya.

"If you want to. Its an hour drive to the docks though Yuki, I thought you had work..?"

Yukito gave a nervous chuckle, how could he explain he had another half the was insisting he go to the docks _right now?_ "I called in sick. I-I just... I have a... gut feeling I should get to the docks. I can't really explain it."

Touya nodded, accepting his excuse, and they both got in the car and started driving.

.oO***Oo.

Yelan was sitting in her son's apartment, she was watching the videos Fujitaka had given her once again. There were no tears flowing down her face, she was sure she had cried herself dry. If she ever saw him again there was so much she wanted to say. She would tell him she was proud of him, that she loved him, that she was always honored to have him her son. She would be the mother he had always wanted and needed.

Yelan ignored the quiet tapping that suddenly came from the window, she was too busy wallowing in her own misery to really care about anything else. The tapping became more frantic and finally a muffled shout came through the glass.

"Oi! Li-san, open the window!"

The shout finally caught her attention and she looked to see the floating stuffed animal outside the window with a look on his face she couldn't explain. She stood slowly and opened the window, allowing him in.

"We gotta get to the docks now, Li-san. I feel 'em. I can feel Sakura and the kid... Their movin' over water. We gotta get to the docks!"

Yelan almost brightened at this offering of hope but then dashed it completely. She couldn't sense either of them. "I can't feel them. Are you sure its them, Keroberos?"

Kero closed his eyes to confirm, "Its them, for sure its them… I can understand you not sensing Sakura, my bond to her is strong enough I would sense her long before you... Odd I can sense the kid before you though. I have no connection to him and you're bonded to him through blood, you should pick him up before I do. Its definitely them though."

Yelan allowed hope to flood her system. Her mind stopped working and she grabbed the little guardian in front of her and rushed out the door, barely remembering to close it let alone lock it. She ran to the elevator and pushed the button, waited 5 seconds then decided it was taking too long and ran down the stairs. She didn't care the she looked like a mad woman. She didn't care that should anyone from the clan see her it could completely destroy her reputation.

The always stoic, composed Yelan, running down the stairs at break-neck speeds clutching a yellow plush toy? Yes that would do wonders for her reputation, but she didn't care.

There was a chance, even a small one, that she could see her son.

Her hands shook as she pushed the button to unlock her car. It took her nearly a minute to get the key in the ignition. But eventually she did and started the long drive to the docks.

.oO***Oo.

Eriol was waiting outside the store for Tomoyo. She had insisted he wait saying she needed to buy some last minute gifts that he couldn't see. In other words, his gift. He hadn't questioned why she felt the need to pick out his present with him around, he already knew the reason.

Every year Sakura and Tomoyo would shop together to buy his and Syaoran's presents. They didn't care who accompanied them when they bought the rest of their presents for people but when they picked out the presents for Eriol and Syaoran no one else could be around. It was a tradition they had kept up for 10 years and Tomoyo wasn't about to break it now.

But he (and likely she, since she asked him to accompany her) knew that she could not do it completely alone. It would be too painful. Eriol knew he would be comforting her while she cried that night, but he also knew that this was something she had to do.

Then Eriol felt it again, it was a tingle on the edge of his senses that had been bothering him for 15 minutes now. He shook his head, trying to clear the feeling.

He could distinctly feel two familiar auras but that was it. They weren't close enough he could tell who they were yet, just that they were familiar. He would just have to wait until they were close enough he could recognize them.

As they got closer he began to pick up details. The familiar auras were pink and green. He was bonded to the green aura through blood though it was thin and watered down. A distant descendant of his then, it felt like a Li.

Eriol's head shot up as realization hit him.

Pink.

Green.

Sakura's aura was pink.

Syaoran's aura was green

The green was a Li.

Syaoran was a Li.

"Oh god." Eriol stood and quickly gathered the bags he'd been holding for Tomoyo while and shopped. He walked into the store, not caring if he saw what she picked out for him, this was far too important. He found her trying to decide between two items, he didn't even glance at them. "Tomoyo, we need to go."

She looked at him concerned. She wasn't angry at him for entering the store when she had told him not to, she could hear the urgency in his voice. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

Tomoyo feared the worst. She knew Fujitaka was returning from his dig that day. The ocean had already taken two of her most beloved friends, she didn't doubt it would have no qualms about taking a third. She hadn't wanted him to get on the ship when he left. The only reason she hadn't gone insane was because Eriol had scried on Fujitaka the entire boat ride to the island so she knew he'd arrived safe.

(AN: for those who don't know, scrying is the practice of magically observing someone or something. Eriol does it a few times in the show. Its where he watches Sakura in his magic circle.)

Once she realized he could do that she demanded he scry Sakura or Syaoran. He explained he'd already tried and failed to make a connection. He choose not to mention there were only two reasons he wouldn't be able to connect to them. The first was if someone more powerful than he blocked him from doing so. The second was that they were dead. And there were very few people out there more powerful than Hiiragizawa Eriol.

Eriol shook his head, "Nothings wrong but we really need to get to the docks. I'll explain in the car. Come on." Tomoyo put down the two objects she been looking at and took his hand as he lead her to the car.

.oO***Oo.

Touya was surprised to say the least when Yelan's car pulled up beside where he and Yukito were waiting. She jumped out of the car and rushed over to where they stood waiting for Fujitaka. She greeted them both noticing the yellow plush toy she was clutching to her chest for dear life.

Poor Kero was nearly suffocating as she practically crushed him to death. He was very glad at this moment that he didn't actually need to breathe.

Yelan knew that Yukito was actually Yue and looked him in the eyes, begging him to confirm what Kero had told her. He gave her a barely perceptible nod. She clutched Kero even tighter and stared at where the ship would be arriving soon.

Eriol and Tomoyo showed up sometime later and eventually even Syaoran's four sisters showed up.

Had everyone but him had a gut feeling to come to the docks?

.oO***Oo.

Fujitaka saw the two young adults fidgeting in the clothes they wore. It had been cold on the ship and several of the students had lent them clothes. It's not that the clothes were uncomfortable, it was just that they hadn't worn anything so restricting in months.

They didn't complain though, they knew they would freeze without the clothes on and were grateful to the students. Sakura was particularly grateful that the pants she was barrowing had deep pockets, the cards hadn't left her side since they boarded the boat and she didn't plan to let them anytime soon.

Sakura and Syaoran were watching their home as they approached. They had been in the same position since the island came into view. She stood in front of him, he had one arm around her and the other holding onto the railing to anchor them to one spot.

"They felt us coming," Sakura whispered. She could feel everyone's auras gathering from the surrounding area. She was actually rather surprised how well she could sense Syaoran's mother and sisters. Syaoran was equally surprised that he could now sense Kero and Yue. He'd never been able to sense Yue when he was hidden in Yukito before, yet now he could (he wasn't sure how he could tell Yue was hidden in Yukito but again, he just could). Both were surprised to find even their connection to Eriol had increased in strength.

"I'm not surprised, it would make sense that if our connection to them has strengthened theirs to us would as well."

There was a long silence the Sakura spoke, "I don't have Christmas presents for any of them, I feel bad." It had suddenly occurred to her out of the blue. She felt his chuckle reverberating through his chest to her back.

"I honestly don't think they'll care."

"But-"

"Really, Sakura, don't worry about it," he told her as he tightened his grip on her waist and buried his face in her hair. She smiled and leaned back into him.

She could feel Yue and Kero extending their auras as much as they could trying to reach her. She sent her aura out to reach for them. As soon as their auras brushed against each other she could once again hear the thoughts they sent at her.

Syaoran felt the little drops of water hit his arm and looked to her face. The corners of her lips were curved up in the slightest of smiles. Sakura was reaching out with one hand as though she were trying to grasp at them. Through his newly discovered connection with them he could feel them reaching for her as desperately as she reached for them.

He was surprised he didn't find himself jealous. No, instead he understood. Kero and Yue were like a part of her. Sakura had forced herself not to miss them because it would have accomplished nothing, but now that there were there, almost within reach, she desperately needed them back.

He felt his mother's and sister's auras all extend trying to reach him and he sent his aura out to greet them as well. Their reunion was nothing compared the Sakura and her guardian's, he knew. It was not as desperate, but he had not expected it to be. He was surprised to even feel them reaching out to him, it was considered unseemly. Etiquette dictated they should have just waited for him to get off the ship before even acknowledging his existence. He didn't care though.

Screw etiquette, he'd been living on an island for 8 months.

He even felt Eriol send his aura to greet them, his however felt more like probing than a greeting. He wanted to know if it was them and Sakura was too caught up in her reunion with Kero and Yue to even notice Eriol so Syaoran greeted him as well.

Fujitaka stood in the doorway to the deck. He had come to tell them they'd be docking in half an hour but couldn't bring himself to disturb them. The way his daughter's tears were flowing from her eyes as she reached out desperately grasping at some unseen object. The way Syaoran's face looked so contented.

He could feel something in the air but he didn't know what it was. All he knew was it was beautiful.

.oO***Oo.

Touya stared at the horizon, the ship was in view now. He felt Yukito stiffen beside him.

"Yuki?" He asked as he turned to look at him. It was as though the man didn't even hear him. His eyes were closed and he had silent tears running down his face. "Yuki?!"

Touya didn't have time to worry about his friend, however. Yelan fell to her knees she also had tears streaking her face. He heard four female shrieks and covered his ear as he looked to see Syaoran's four sisters clinging to each other.

Yukito used this distraction to do as his other half told him, if he didn't know any better he would have said his other half was begging him to do this. Yukito had never heard him this desperate before so he didn't question. Yukito grabbed the yellow plush toy that Yelan had dropped when she fell and ran away from the group. Once he was out of sight he felt Yue take control.

It was amazing no one saw him as he flew straight toward the ship.

.oO***Oo.

Fujitaka had been watching the two young adults for about 15 minutes when a strange man? Angel? Landed on the deck of the ship. Syaoran instantly released Sakura and she bolted to the man.

Fujitaka was surprised to see Syaoran smile as the man enveloped Sakura in a desperate hug, from what he had seen of the boy he was the jealous type. Fujitaka was even more surprised to see the yellow plush toy Sakura always carried around with her come to life begin trying to wrap its tiny little arms around her neck in a hug. She raised one of her hands and crushed she creature to her.

After several minutes Yue regained his composure and released Sakura, though she and Kero showed no signs of recovering theirs. Still, when Yue asked her to, Sakura released him.

Yue knew Syaoran was surprised when he turned to him and bowed deeply. The guardian usually treated him with cool disregard, sometimes Syaoran even got the distinct feeling of distain from the guardian. What he didn't know was that Yue lacked respect for him because of his obvious denseness and blindness towards the Card Mistress's feelings. It was a given that Sakura would miss Syaoran's, her denseness was a part of what made her Sakura.

Yue knew Syaoran was far from dense however. He knew Syaoran to be observant, intelligent, and far less naive that the Card Mistress. Yet he still managed to miss one very important thing that would have brought happiness to not only himself but also to Sakura and, through Sakura, the cards, Kero, and Yue himself.

"You have returned Sakura to us. For that I am grateful." Syaoran returned the bow just as deeply, unsure of what to say to the guardian.

Kero saved him the trouble. "Kid."

"Plush toy," Syaoran responded in the same tone. Somehow it didn't feel like an insult anymore. It would have felt wrong to call each other anything else. Syaoran realized now one of the reasons he never got along with the small guardian was jealousy. The plush toy could be around Sakura as much as he wanted without giving an excuse. Syaoran smiled slightly, he didn't have to come up with excuses anymore.

"We need to get back, Touya is bound to notice Yukito missing and it will look odd if he leaves the ship with you." Yue told his Mistress gently.

Sakura nodded and gave him one last hug, "I'll see you with everyone else in a few minutes then."

"Nuh-uh. I'm not leavin' Sakura." Kero said stubbornly.

"Keroberos..."

"No, 15 minutes from shore or not. I'm not leaving her again. Not on a boat."

"I don't have time to argue, do what you want." Yue bowed to Sakura and Syaoran then flew off.

.oO***Oo.

Touya couldn't figure out what happened, one minute they were all waiting for the ship together, the next Yukito was missing and everyone else was in tears except him.

Touya got the distinct feeling they all knew something he didn't...

And it was pissing him off...

"Where did you go?" he growled when Yukito reappeared at his side. Yukito was back to his usual cheerful self.

"Bathroom, sorry I didn't say something but you seemed distracted by the girls." Touya looked over Yukito suspiciously, he hadn't been this cheerful since before Sakura went missing.

Yukito was very grateful to Sakura at that moment. Several years before she had made it so he could see out Yue's eyes the way Yue saw out of his so he wouldn't be surprised when Yue took over or gave back control. He had seen Sakura alive with... well technically not his own eyes, but close enough.

.oO***Oo.

Sakura and Syaoran waited behind Fujitaka while they moved the ship close enough for them to disembark. They could feel everyone waiting for them what felt like mere inches away. Sakura still clutched Kero to her and was grateful Fujitaka hadn't said anything about it.

"Could you loosen your grip a little? You're going to break my fingers," Syaoran whispered in Sakura's ear. Only then did she realize she had not only grabbed his hand in anticipation but she was squeezing the dear life out of it. She instantly forced her hand to relax and muttered an apology.

As they stepped off the ship everyone within a mile radius winced as the shrieks and squeals of 5 women filled the air. For the next 10 minutes they were hugged, pinched, poked, prodded and cried on. Syaoran was amazed to see even his mother crying as she hugged him to her.

He awkwardly tried to hug her back, not really sure how to react to this sudden change in a woman he's literally known his entire life. She was muttering incoherently and Syaoran just let her. Eventually she detached herself from him and gave Sakura the same treatment. This gave someone rather unexpected the chance to greet him.

"Gaki." Syaoran looked to him, steeling himself for the lecture about how it was _his _fault Touya had lost his precious sister for 8 months, how it was the cruise that _he_ took her on, how..."I'm guessing that ring on her finger is yours?"

There was that too.

Syaoran took a deep breath and tried to look as confident as he could. He had known front the start that he would have to have this conversation with Touya, he'd just hoped that he would have Sakura by his side for it. Unfortunately she was currently... occupied... with his mother and sisters. "Yes," he answered. He thanked any and all gods he knew that his voice didn't shake.

There was a long pause as the older man looked him over then suddenly grunted and looked away. "Take care of her," Touya gritted out then turned to help shoo some off some of the women practically strangling Sakura. Syaoran could have sworn he heard him mutter, "I did say if he brought her back to us..." but had no idea what to make of that.

(AN: He's referring to the comment he made in Chapter 2. "If that Chinese gaki brings you home, I swear… you can date, you can marry him, hell you can even have 50 kids with him if you want… if he just.. If he just brings you home… safe… to us…")

Syaoran found it rather ironic that even Tomoyo thanked him for returning her to them. If anyone should be thanked for their survival it should be her.

_She_ had saved them by getting them off the ship.

_She_ had provided them with the means to survive on the island until they could do it on their own.

_She_ had created a card to specifically with the purpose of bringing him back from the brink of death when he had been attacked by the boar.

_She_ had even been the one to find her father that had been the one to take them off the island.

What had he done? To ask him, not much.

Once the reunions were all completed they all piled back into their cars to head to Sakura's house.

.oO***Oo.

**This is not the last chapter.**

I just wanted to make that clear.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary:**

Syaoran takes Sakura on her "dream vacation" as a birthday present but things don't quite go as planned and they end up stranded.

I'm sorry for taking so long on this chapter. We had a big release at work and I haven't had a lot of spare time.

This will be the last chapter, I hope you enjoy it and have enjoyed the rest of the fic. Finishing this fic has been my birthday present to myself (I turn 21 today).

Please enjoy! :)

oO***Oo.

Syaoran and Sakura sat in front of Yelan in Sakura's bedroom.

"Now," Yelan said coolly, having regained her composure from earlier. "I want to hear the entire story," she told them. Sakura looked at her confused while Syaoran nodded in understanding. He wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulders and explained.

"Okaa-san knows we would have used magic to help us survive but left that out of the story because not everyone down there knows about magic. She wants to know what really happened."

So they began explaining the story once again, this time without leaving out the magical parts. One particular part caught Yelan's interest.

"Wait," She interrupted as Syaoran told about how the cards offered to help him create a ring for Sakura. He stopped talking and looked at her. "So you are telling me that not only is your bride-to-be the Card Mistress, but the cards have accepted you as her husband?" She looked at them intently waiting for her answer.

"Umm... yes?" he replied though it came out sounding more like a question than he would have liked. He didn't know what they had meant when they said "we accept you" and he wasn't entirely sure he liked the way she was looking at him. Syaoran was especially concerned when she burst out laughing. Now he had seen his mother cry, smile, and laugh all within a 12 hour span of time, he wasn't exactly sure how to react to the usually stoic woman.

Yelan stood suddenly and, still laughing, embraced the two. "I would have been happy to have you and Sakura married were she even a completely non-magical woman, but I shall enjoy rubbing in this the Elders faces, my son." She kissed Syaoran's forehead, "My daughter," she kissed Sakura's forehead.

It took a few minutes for Yelan to regain her composure once again, once she did she finally spoke. "I suppose you're wondering what I'm talking about." She asked, taking her seat across from them once more. "You are the Card Mistress's husband now. In the eyes of the cards the moment they said they accepted you, you were married. This means the Elders cannot block your marriage to her because you are, by the laws of magic and thus Clan law, already married."

"I don't understand, I thought Sakura being the Card Mistress would make it easier to convince them to let me marry her," Syaoran stated, looking very confused. "I thought they _wanted_ her to marry into the family..."

"Oh they do, Syaoran. Anyone but you. _That's_ why they sent you steal the cards when you were younger, not because you are the most powerful sorcerer. They knew you wouldn't be... kind... about it." Sakura snickered and Syaoran looked embarrassed at his mother's words both remembering exactly how _'kind'_ he had been at first. "They figured she would hate you. She'd never forgive you and you wouldn't even try to get her to. Your only goal would be to get the cards. They never counted on her forgiving you so easily, befriending you despite the fact that you were..." She paused trying to think of a nice way to put it.

"An ass." Syaoran finished for her. Yelan couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at the word. Her son had always been very careful not to cuss in front of her. She was aware that he did it, but it never happened in front of her.

"You weren't _that_ bad, Syaoran..." Sakura tried to defend him, but he gave her an incredulous look.

"Sakura, I insulted you, demeaned you, _attacked_ you..." he listed off.

"Helped me capture the cards, explained how they worked.." Sakura continued for him.

"I only helped you because I planned to steal the cards once they were all captured and I only explained how things worked to show off how much more than you I knew. I was an ass, Sakura. Admit it."

Yelan watched with amusement as her son tried to convince Sakura he was an absolutely horrible person and couldn't help but wonder what he hoped to accomplish by doing so. "It doesn't particularly matter since you aren't _now_." Yelan interrupted before they could begin arguing again.

"Right," Sakura nodded vigorously and smiled.

"They never expected you to actually get the cards, Syaoran. You _couldn't_ have stolen them from Sakura without Keroberos choosing you as a candidate, which he wouldn't do because he had already chosen her. All they hoped to accomplish was you would hate her and she would hate you. Since she would likely hold a grudge against the Li Clan, they would offer to send someone to help her train and refine her skills (things I'm sure that _you_ do for her now) as a peace offering. Whoever they sent would befriend her, make her fall in love with them, and marry her." Yelan explained.

"But I still don't understand. Why anyone but me?"

"What else? Power. Control," Yelan said almost bitterly. She had not found out their plans until years after they were already in effect. "Why else arrange for you to marry one of the few non-magical people in our clan? A non-magical wife puts you below them. They can force you to do things when they deem it necessary." Yelan knew about this one from experience. Without her husband it was essentially the same as having a non-magical husband to the clan. It was how they had been able to force her to stop the search.

"A weakly magical wife would at least put you on the same level as they are. They won't be able to force you to do anything, but you probably wouldn't be able to accomplish much because you wouldn't be able to force them to do anything either." She paused and smiled softly at Sakura. "With Sakura, the Card Mistress, a _powerfully_ magical wife by your side there is nothing the two of you cannot accomplish. And, with you by her side, they cannot make any attempts to control her either." Yelan let off a quiet laugh, "You know by falling in love you two really threw a wrench in their plans. Please, continue the story."

So Syaoran went on to explain how he had proposed, he tired to keep it vague but Sakura decided it would be a good idea to tell his mother exactly how romantic and corny he was and explained the whole evening in detail.

"... but I never noticed because the weird thing was, the cards weren't running off my magic," Sakura finished.

"The cards ran of my magic instead, for the specific purpose of you not noticing. Not sure how they did it though..." Syaoran explained to her.

"Yes, that's a side effect of being married magically to the Card Mistress, I'm sure you've noticed you can now sense Keroberos and Yue. Being magically married essentially shares any bonds you have. Sakura can now sense me, I can sense her because we are now family and share that bond. Although it's not as strong as the original bond between you and I. The cards can use your magic in place or in combination with hers without you having to touch the staff like when you helped her convert LIGHT and DARK into Sakura Cards."

Syaoran nodded absently until something hit him, "How did you know about that?"

Yelan got a glint in her eye and gave him a smile. Syaoran suddenly found himself very nervous. "You make a wonderful sleeping beauty, my son. Your sisters very much enjoyed seeing you in a dress again." That was all she needed to say to explain she had seen Tomoyo's tapes... Syaoran was fairly certain he wanted to kill Sakura's raven haired friend.

"Again?" Sakura asked with a confused look on her face, Syaoran just groaned.

Yelan smiled evilly, she had never realized how much she could enjoy teasing her son. This type of interaction with him was entirely new to her. "Why yes. You see, most girls at a certain age have dolls they like to dress up, my girls had Syaoran. He thoroughly enjoyed the attention until he was about 6 and got into his 'I'm a man' phase. Meilin was not very happy with you after that, Syaoran. _She_ became their new doll and refused to talk to him."

"Best 6 months of my life," Syaoran muttered under his breath causing Sakura to giggle.

"She's not that bad, Syaoran." (AN: Sakura says this a lot, doesn't she?)

"You didn't grow up with her," he growled.

"Maybe not as long as you did, but I have known her almost as long as I've known you. She just... takes some getting used to. But she really is a good friend!"

Yelan watched her sons eyes soften at the girl as he buried his face in her hair. They had clearly forgotten her presence and she wasn't going to remind them. It was sweet to watch them like this, it was a side of her son she had never thought she would see. "I know. She's just annoying."

"She means well. Meilin's been trying to get me to confess for years, I just never could get up the guts..." Sakura sighed sadly.

Syaoran chuckled bitterly, "I didn't exactly get up the guts either. I was sure I was pretty much dead when I told you and wouldn't be around to face certain rejection and the destruction of our friendship over it."

Sakura suddenly frowned and ran her finger down his side where she knew the scar to be, "I'm sorry HEAL couldn't get rid of the scar, if I'd had just a bit more magic left or actually thought of making a card instead of it happening you probably wouldn't have one..."

Syaoran took her hand in his, stopping it from tracing the scar. When she refused to look at him he used his other hand to gently guide her chin so she was looking him in the eye. "Both of you need to stop feeling guilty over it." Sakura nodded her head.

"We should go down soon, I can feel Yue and Kero's impatience to get me back in their sights." Syaoran nodded and stood. When he felt for it deep in the back of his mind he could feel their anxiety too. They looked to Yelan for permission to leave, which she gave and was not the least bit surprised to see a certain yellow plush toy sitting on the ground outside Sakura's door.

She smiled as she picked him up and he began ranting about how long they took and how hungry he was and how he hadn't had any of Sakura's special pudding in months. When Syaoran interrupted and demanded to know why the first thing she did when she got home had to be make him pudding, the two began fighting and eventually ended with Syaoran's finger being bitten.

It would appear the truce they had reached on the boat had reached it's limit and they're relationship was back to normal.

Syaoran's howl of pain and Sakura's scolding covered up a muffled "KAWAII!" that came from the staircase where Tomoyo stood with her video camera, tears of happiness in her eyes, and Eriol's hand covering her mouth. He simply shook his head having given up trying to tell her that she needn't inform them they were "Kawaii" and that she would have more to record if she didn't. It did little good and he had settled for simply attempting to keep her quiet.

She did so love recording Sakura, and if recording Sakura made her happy he would do anything he could to allow her to continue to do so. That was one of the things that had upset her the most during Sakura and Syaoran's absence. She would nearly burst into tears every time she would see a cute couple. Eriol couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Sakura and Syaoran.

Tomoyo had eight months of recording to make up for.

That night Fujitaka made what could only be described a feast for dinner. No one knew how they managed to squeeze everyone around the Kinomoto's little dining room table. Despite the fact that Fujitaka had put several leaves in the table to expand it, there _were_ 12 of them eating that night so it was a tight squeeze.

Sakura and Syaoran were both amazed that, even though everyone was practically sitting in their neighbor's lap, no one noticed that bits of food were disappearing to Sakura's lap where Kero sat. Or at least they thought no one noticed, Fujitaka had the perfect angle where he could see the little plush toy shoveling bit after bit into his mouth.

It made him smile as he remembered the reunion on the boat he had witnessed. He couldn't help but wonder who the other man had been, he had certainly never seen him before. Fujitaka was sure he would remember meeting someone who had wings, just a gut feeling. He was a patient man, however, and he trusted he daughter. She would tell him when she was ready.

Dinner and conversations continued late into the evening, eventually moving into the living room. Again, everyone was grateful that the Kinomoto's seemed to have quiet a bit of seats considering only the three of them lived in the house.

It had been a long day though and Sakura and Syaoran had fallen into the habit of falling asleep early since they had to wake up early together and hunt their breakfast, so it was not long before Sakura's eyelids began to droop and Syaoran noticed she was starting to become heavier where she leaved against his chest. He watched without her noticing (something he had gotten very good at over the last 10 years) and smiled softly as he watched her fall asleep.

It wasn't long before his own eyelids began to get heavy as he rested his cheek against the top of her head. Everyone's voices quieted and became foggy as he tuned them out and drifted off to sleep.

Everyone smiled at the young couple asleep on the couch and took it as their cue to end their celebration. Syaoran's four sisters opted to sleep at their hotel for the night and soon had piled in their car and left. Yelan also decided to head to her home and left as well. Eriol, however, had a sleeping Tomoyo and choose to stay at the Kinomoto's with her rather than wake her up for the 15 minute drive home.

Yukito's other half asked (in that way of his that way of his that seemed like begging but was most definitely _not_) him to find an excuse to stay, wanting to keep as Sakura as close to him as possible. For the first (and likely last) time in his life Yue wished he could become a stuffed animal like Kero could. Yukito decided to stay the night with Touya.

Fujitaka had explained the couple had trouble sleeping without the other (something they had not told him, a father just notices these things on his own) so they decided to put them both in Sakura's bed. Touya grumbled but since Eriol and Tomoyo would be taking the couch, he eventually assented.

It showed how tired Syaoran was when they tried to take Sakura from him to carry them both upstairs. Normally he couldn't sleep if there was someone else in the room, yet when they reached for Sakura his only response was to tighten his grip. Everyone left in the room fought a laugh and Eriol grabbed Tomoyo's camera knowing this was something she would not have the chance to record again. Eventually they managed to get her from his grasp and the two were carried up the stairs. Once they were both on the bed they instantly latched onto each other once again.

Several hours later, when everyone was asleep, Yukito woke to an empty bed. He opened the door and saw a familiar shadow standing at Sakura's now open door. He smiled as he wrapped his arms around the man standing in front of him.

"I just needed to check," Touya whispered. "So many times I've dreamed that she was back and woke up and she wasn't. I had to make sure this was real."

"Its real, Touya," Yukito reassured him in an equally quiet voice, he felt his other half calm at the sight of her as well. "I'm proud of you," he continued, "You've accepted her choice without beating him up." Yukito didn't need to explain what he meant by that, Touya already knew.

He felt Touya sigh, "I knew along time ago this would happen. In all honesty, I expected it much sooner. I just... I just wanted to hold on to her as long as I could... She'smy kaijuu." Yukito felt something wet hit his arm. "But look at her, I've never seen her this happy before. I'll admit I probably had a hand in why it took them so long, look at what I've denied her, Yuki. A couple of months away from me and she achieves the one thing that's made her truly happy." Touya's voice was coming out in a harsh whisper and was threatening to break.

"I'm sure Sakura-chan doesn't think about it like that at all and neither should you. Now lets go back to bed, I've heard that Syaoran is a light sleeper usually, we don't want to wake him up." With that Yukito forcibly dragged Touya back to their own room, despite his protests as well as those of his other half.

Some time later two woman materialized in newly returned couples room. One dressed in black and one dressed in a very pale (almost white) yellow. DARK smiled softly as she moved to pull the covers over the young couple, only to have the kicked off once again minutes later.

LIGHT laughed softly, "Apparently they still aren't used to covers again yet, sister."

DARK smiled and sat down on the bed, she brushed the bangs from Sakura's face, "Our Mistress is very happy, sister."

"Yes, she is." LIGHT whispered as she walked to stand next to where DARK sat and looked at the young man laying next to her Mistress. "He offers her a happiness we Cards never could."

They were silent for several minutes until the smile on DARK's face softened, then slowly developed into a frown. "Do you think we did the right thing, sister?" she asked.

LIGHT frowned as well, "Accepting him? Yes, I do."

"No, I mean... We could easily have put them on an island where they would have been found sooner. What would have happened if something had happened to her father and he never made it to the island? Or if she never found him once he was there? We cut it dangerously close, she found him two days before he was supposed to leave."

"We would have found a way if one of them had not found him," LIGHT replied. "We could have put them on another island, but they needed this time to tell each other. Ten years is along time for humans, sister."

"So it was you," the two women started at a deep male voice from the door way. They turned to see Eriol leaning against the frame looking at them. They remained silent as they waited for him to continue. "In order to prevent someone from scrying you have to be in the area. Even if they had wanted to prevent me from scrying on them, Syaoran lacks the power and Sakura lacks the knowledge to do so. Then it occurred to me... You cards are essentially an extension of Sakura, you have the same amount of power she does. There was no one else on their island according to them, the only ones with both the ability and knowledge to prevent me from scrying were _you_. What were you thinking?"

The sister cards looked at each other nervously. "We just wanted Mistress Sakura to be happy..." DARK trailed off.

"By removing her from her friends and family for nearly a year? From Keroberos and Yue? Do you know the emptiness being separated from your guardians creates? Why do you think I created Ruby Moon and Spinnel Sun, it wasn't just so I'd have someone to distract Yue and Keroberos." Eriol usually did not anger easily and somewhere in the back of his mind he was aware he was taking 8 months of worry and frustration out on the two cards, but for once in his two lifetimes he couldn't help himself.

"I suppose we were a little selfish in how we dealt with it..." LIGHT said quietly. Both cards were looking at their hands and acting like children being scolded by their parent. In an round-a-bout way Eriol was their parent. Their angry parent.

"A little selfish? Do you know what your selfishness almost cost them? Even his own clan stopped searching. They picked a new heir! Do you know how angry Syaoran would be if he knew? And Sakura-" he froze mid-sentence realizing his voice was beginning to rise. He calmed himself, not wanting to wake the entire house up. Eriol sighed and started again, this time much quieter, "Those two will do great things. Great things they need the power and status of the Li Clan to accomplish... Next time you decide to play match maker, think of the consequences. You're lucky no one died when the ship sank." He turned on his heel and left the room. Neither the cards nor Eriol noticed that Syaoran was awake.

He laid there thinking about what he had heard as he looked at his wife through mostly closed eyes. He couldn't keep the smile from his face with that thought. _His wife._ They might not have a marriage certificate yet but that's what she was: _His wife_. By magic and Clan law and he had the cards to thank for that. He really didn't care what it cost him or nearly cost him, she was his and he couldn't bring himself to even be worried about the cost.

Syaoran was slightly hurt, if Eriol had been right about what it felt to be separated from her guardians, that she hadn't told him. He knew _why_ she hadn't told him, she didn't want him to worry and there was nothing he could have done anyway. He was hurt, but he could also understand. As much as he loved her, as much as he had always and would always love her, he could never fill the void that Kero and Yue left when she thought she might never see them again. She hadn't told him because there was nothing he could do. She felt it was better just to shove the emptiness to the back of her mind and try to forget it was there.

He wasn't sure whether knowing that they would never be able to fill the void he would leave should anything every happen to him made him feel better or worse. Worse, he decided. It definitely made him feel worse. He would rather be less important to her than her guardians than risk causing her the kind of pain he had witnessed on their reunion.

Syaoran could feel through their newly established bond that LIGHT and DARK were feeling guilty. He sent comfort through the bond they shared, letting them know that he didn't blame them (even if they thought it was merely a subconscious action as Sakura had begun to do the same thing the second she felt they weren't happy even though she herself was still asleep).

Funny how he wasn't even aware of the connection until his mother said it should be there, now that he's looking for it he could feel each and every one of her Cards in his mind. They were all feeling guilty as well though it wasn't as strong as LIGHT and DARK's guilt, whether that was because they didn't feel as guilty or because they were in their card forms he didn't know, but he sent comfort through his bond with them as well.

He could feel Kero who was as deep a sleeper as Sakura and had not woken up despite the fact Eriol was almost yelling in the same room.

He could feel Yue, who had woken up at the noise, though he was curious to know what it was as he could not hear what was said. Syaoran could tell that Yukito had not woken up despite the fact that Yue had.

And finally, he could feel Sakura who was sleeping as deep as ever in his arms. She had always been a deep sleeper. The only thing that could pull her out of sleep in the 10 years he'd known her short of her alarm clock or a fog horn had been the presence of a Clow Card when they were still capturing them. The Sakura Cards apparently didn't wake her up, he guessed because subconsciously she knew they were allowed to be out and about.

Kero was sleep in her arms, except for when his mother had wanted to talk to them alone she hadn't let go of the little creature since she had finally got her hands on him on the boat. It was cute they way she curled around him like he was a cat. He couldn't stop himself as he reached a hand to lightly pet the creature. Though their relationship had resumed its previous rocky state it lacked the true animosity it had had before. They fought because it was what they had always done and people (and sun guardians) don't just change like the flick of a switch.

Although now that he thought about it his and Yue's relationship had...

This was too much to think about when he was this tired and he was giving himself a headache so he went to simpler and happier thoughts while he tried to fall asleep.

She was his.

He was her's and she was his and he had the Cards to thank for it.

With his last conscious thought before he drifted into dreamland once again he made a decision.

_Getting stuck on that island was the best present he'd ever received and he was going to make sure the Cards understood just how grateful he was._

oO***Oo.

Ok, so how many of you saw that coming? That the Cards actually purposefully got them stuck on the island?

Devious little creatures, aren't they?

I hope you enjoyed reading this fic as much as I've enjoyed writing it, but if you didn't I won't hold it against you. In fact I'd like to know why you didn't.

There might be an kind of an epilogue to this, I'm not sure yet. Usually I hate epilogues. I say kind of epilogue cause I'm also toying with the idea of a sequel and an epilogue would make that kinda difficult. If there is a sequel it won't be for a while though.

I have several other fics going (not published, just in progress on my puter) and will hopefully get another released soon.


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